Some Guy's Blog

The Grade I Deserve in Opinion Journalism

2010-05-06T12:05:00.000-07:00

Looking back at my blogs now, it appears I am missing two (which were missed very early on) and have ended the semester with 63 blogs (combined with Online Journalism). That's a lot of blogs. There are some blogs that I enjoyed writing, which can usually be noticed by their length and those that I did not. Unfortunately many of the blogs I did not care much for happened to be those that I had to present in class, which was somewhat disappointing considering I am much more enthusiastic about the things that interest me. Despite that, I did almost all of the work and did it on time (with two or three blogs saved for the last minute) and it should go without saying that I at least deserve a B.

Do I deserve an A though? Well I'm not entirely sure if that is mathematically possible, but in the event that it is I would like appeal to the powers that be. When the semester began I didn't care at all for my blog and thought it was a silly prospect. The more I posted the more I came to enjoy writing about... well whatever was on my mind I guess. One of my random blogs was 3,000 words long! My ability to educate the class about random topics may not have been incredible by any stretch of the imagination, but when I stated my opinions about things I am passionate about I backed them up! I truly cared about what I was saying in these instances and thought whoever was reading would hopefully benefit from my insight.

So do I deserve an A in this class? I guess I'm not so sure, but I would like one. B's are good too though I suppose.

Whatever I happen to make in this class... it won't stop me from playing Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire when I get home... that game was so awesome.

CD Review

2010-05-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

I recently sat down and listened to an 80's mixed CD which turned out to be nothing like I had expected. When I think 80's music I think of songs like Safety Dance and Take On Me. For some reason I hadn't even considered it could be anything different... I was of course wrong in my assumption. The CD was a strange mix of Rock and some other genres I don't really know how to label. There were some songs I vaguely recognized, but for the most part I hadn't a clue to what or who I was listening to.

With that said the songs were hit or miss. There was some decent songs that had some catchy melodies and just downright strange lyrics, which were generally good for the most part. What annoyed me the most however were some of the vocals. A few songs on the CD featured terrible singers that sounded worse than scratching a crying baby against a chalkboard made of 10-year-old male sopranos. And what was up with that Dancing in the Lesbian Club song? For some reason those bizarre lyrics perplexed the hell out of me.

This 80's CD did more good than harm though considering I now understand that there were entire genres in the 80's I didn't even know existed... even if I don't exactly enjoy listening to said genres. Overall it was a fairly decent CD. I give it 3 Lesbian Clubs out of 5.

The Visit Review

2010-05-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

A play review! I have never done one of these before... I mean I have seen many plays in my time, but I have never actually sat down and broke down a play in a review before. So what do I have to say about The Visit? Well, I liked it, so that's a good start.

The Visit is play taking place in the small German town of Guellen where a billionairess, who grew up in the town, returns from her life of adventure. Everyone's all happy and excited about her return until they realize that she wants revenge on her former lover Alfred for damning her to prostitution and exile. The horrible truth of what happened during her youth slowly comes out throwing blame all around, and ultimately driving Alfred mad when he suspects everyone is out to kill him. Without giving anything else away I pretty much summed up the whole play in one paragraph... and that's the problem. The play takes far too long to explain what little is really going on in the plot. A two hour play would have been sufficient, but I am pretty sure it was closer to three hours if not longer.

Another thing that bothered me was the lack of accents on part of the actors. Don't get me wrong, the acting was actually pretty good, but the only person who even attempted it was the Mayor. I was also confused by (SPOILER) Alfred's death scene. It looked like the towns peole collectively curb-stomped him... which would have been a horrible way to die. Other than those complaints however, I really didn't have any problems with the play. The acting was solid and the set and costumes looked legitimate. It was just an hour too long.

I give it 4 blind-witnesses out of 5.

Why Should I Be Hired?

2010-05-02T12:30:00.001-07:00

Why should I be hired you ask? Well, as far as I can tell I have unique tastes and interests and usually hold strong opinions for those various topics. I generally don't fall behind on my work and, when possible, try to go bound what is expected. I like to think I can give useful advice and insight on those topics that I am proficient in while adding humor and wit whenever appropriate. Ideas are my specialty and generating and refining them comes naturally to me whether on a daily basis.

I know a lot about comic books and video games and I love kittens... honestly that's all I can think of. Oh yeah, once I put my mind to something its hard to pull myself away from it whether its reading something, being hard at work or playing a video game. That should be a positive quality.

WHALE-MAN!

2010-04-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

Apparently there are a bunch of dude's who wander the oceans of the world hunting for fishermen committing heinous crimes against the animal populous. These renegade sea-vigilantes record their prey committing these crimes for evidence in the event that those parties choose to fight them in court (which they never do). The Sea Shepard II is a boat with a devastatingly powerful reinforced hull designed to disable its enemies. Basically they ram the bad guys and make them cower away with their tails between their legs.

So... this begs the question... is this ethical? The answer... BATMAN.

Now... technically vigilantism is illegal, but if you have the tool required to succeed in your affair without collateral damage then you have my blessing. Ethics is something that exists outside of the law. If your moral compass dictates that what these people are doing is wrong then you have the liberty to do something about it (but remember, the enemies have rights too). Fortunately the law dictates that the bad guys are doing something illegal so these super-marine animal-heroes have the law on their side (more so than the fishermen anyway).

When it comes down to it this is a question of perspective. The fishermen may not think what they are doing is wrong but they more than likely know it is illegal. This is enough to justify the vigilantes' actions in my mind, as long as they do not injure or kill any of the baddies.

Oh yeah and one last point: personal responsibility. They need to be aware that what they are doing is incredibly dangerous to themselves and their crew. They take this upon themselves when they attempt to utilize their own brand of justice.

Anyway, so yeah. I am a comic book geek so it would be silly for me to not agree with their actions.

My Favorite.... VILLAIN!

2010-04-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Alright, alright... he's not really my FAVORITE villain of all time, but he's pretty high up there because he's such a champ and I want to talk about him in light of his upcoming comic event. So who is it you may ask?.... Get ready....

THANOS, THE MAD TITAN!

So who's this Thanos character? Thanos is one of the most dangerous, feared, powerful and notorious villains of the Marvel Universe known for having and unwavering will and unstoppable resolve. When he sets his sight on a goal he will not stop until he has conquered that goal entirely.

What makes him such a super bad ass? Well, for one, he is in love with the corporeal manifestation of Death who constantly ignores his attempts at wooing her. He has gone as-so-far as to kill half of the sentient life in the universe instantaneously with a snap of his finger when he obtained the reality altering super weapon known as the Infinity Gauntlet.

His powers include but are not limited to: Extraordinary Super Strength (Hulk level), Speed, Reflexes, Stamina and nearly indestructible. Able to manipulate and project cosmic energy; matter manipulation; telekinesis and limited telepathy, and courtesy of advanced technology is capable of force field projection; time travel, movement through alternate universes and teleportation over interstellar distances. Thanos is also a master strategist and super genius level intelligence (possibly smarter than Mr. Fantastic).

Despite being the Avatar of Oblivion (the manifestation of the Universal concept of "Oblivion/Death") and infatuated with Death, Thanos is actually an incredibly complex character that has been known to do good. He may still be considered evil, but he is ultimately a dramatic villain who's nature as a bad guy is not necessarily due to selfish reasons, but because he believes he may ultimately do what he believes is right.

Whatever his reason for knocking down your door, know that if you get on his bad side you're chances of living are not very likely. Read up on this guy. He's as bad ass as a villain can get.

Thanos' new story starts with the one-shot, Thanos Imperative: Ignition arrives at comic book stores in May.

Modern Philosophy

2010-04-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Modern Philosophy is a philosophical movement in Western Europe and North America in the 17th to 20th centuries. It consists of many thoughts and doctrines, but many share common threads. It is disputed how much of the Renaissance is included.

Modern philosophy traditionally begins with Rene Descartes and his dictum "I think, therefore I am."

The major players in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and metaphysics during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are divided into two main groups:

The Rationalists assumed that all knowledge must begin from certain "innate ideas" in the mind. Major Rationalists were: Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Leibniz and Nicolas Malebranche

The Empiricists held that knowledge must begin with sensory experience. Major Empiricists were: John Locke, George Berkeley and David Hume.

Big political philosophers of Modern Philosophy included Thomas Hobbs and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

In an attempt to bring unity to Rationalism and Empiricism, Immanuel Kant inspired the German Idealism movement. The characteristic theme of idealism was that the world and the mind equally must be understood according to the same categories. Karl Marx appropriated both Hegel's philosophy of history and the empirical ethics dominant in Britain, transforming Hegel's ideas into a strictly materialist form, to be used as a tool for revolution.

The Knights of the Old Republic: Plot Summery/Analysis Part V (Free Topic)

2010-04-24T12:23:00.003-07:00

Finally! Part V! The last blog in this long and dragged out series! In the last blog I discussed that plot of Knights of the Old Republic II and other relevant tidbits about the story. In this final chapter we will jump 300 years into the future to the time period that Bioware's upcoming MMORPG, The Old Republic will take place in. I will also explain why everything prior to this era is relevant and how. So without further adieu, let us begin!

From the time the Jedi Exile left to find Revan in the Unknown Regions in 3,951 BBY to 3,681 BBY the galaxy was at peace, one of the longest periods of peace since the end of the Great Hyperspace War. The Republic prospered and with the help of Visas Marr and the rest of the apprentices left behind by the Exile, the Jedi Order was restored and reestablished itself in the Coruscant Jedi Temple. No one had the faintest clue that there was anything to fear. As far as the galaxy at large was concerned talk of the "True Sith" died with Kreia on Malachor V. This proved false of curse.

In 3,681 BBY the long forgotten Sith, the True Sith, launched a galaxy wide assault on the Republic that the defenders had no chance of predicting. Years of war followed in what was called the Great Galactic War. The Sith allied themselves with the Mandalorians when they created a puppet Mandalore for them to follow. The Mandalorians were eventually defeated and many discovered that they had been used when another would-be Mandalore, Artus, exposed the false Mandalore and defeated him in single combat. Decades passed and the Sith grew increasingly desperate after the Mandalorians failed, but they had one more ace in the hole. They called for peace talks with the Republic on the planet Alderaan hoping to come of with a treaty. This was however, a trap. An elite army of Sith invaded the Republic capital of Coruscant utterly destroying the Jedi Temple and held the planet hostage until the Republic signed the Treaty of Coruscant, a treaty that would force the Republic to withdraw its forces from many of its allies worlds leaving them defenseless (video at the bottom of the blog is a video depicting the attack... its super bad ass). As you could imagine, the political climate after that faithful day was hostile, to say the least. The war officially ends on 3,653 BBY.

"Centuries after being driven into exile, the Sith Empire returned from deep space to launch the most calculated military assault in Republic history."
- Jedi Master Gnost-Dural

The Old Republic takes place right after the war putting the players in a galaxy divided and on the verge of another war.... I can't wait!

Anyway, I promised I would go back and answer all those "I'll get to that later"'s (the ones I haven't yet covered) and explain why everything happened the way it did. Its pretty simple really. Don't believe me? I promise. Remember the Great Hyperspace War way back in 5,000 BBY and how aside from Naga Sadow, at least one other Sith escaped the vengeance of the Jedi? Well that Sith traveled to the Unknown Regions of space with what was left of his fleet. Hidden from the prying eyes of the Republic and the Jedi, this Sith secretly began building an army. At some point he begins raising entire generations of Sith warriors teaching them the ancient Sith ways.

This mysterious Sith's sole desire and motivation is to get revenge on the Republic and to do this he would not only build a powerful fleet, but also employ the ancient Sith art of subterfuge and deception, carefully and slowly weakening the Republic until it was the perfect opportunity to finally attack...

Wait a minute... they don't even attack until 3,681 BBY! That's over a millennium after the Great Hyperspace War! Well yeah... that's right. Whoever the identity of this Sith is... he is the perfect representation of what a True Sith Lord aspires to be. He plans, plots and sabotages for roughly 1,300 years using ancient Sith rituals to prolong his life. One of the most notable attacks of direct sabotage is the Mandalorian Wars of 3,964 BBY. Told you I would explain why it happened in the first place! The Sith Lord, now referred to as the Sith Emperor, goaded the Mandalorians into attacking the Republic (as he did once more during the Great Galactic War 300 years later) hoping to weaken them. What he did not count on however was Revan's cunning and ruthlessness that ended the war on Malachor V.

The Mandalorian Wars would have been a minor failure if not for what it caused. Revan had fallen to the dark side and traveled with Malek to find the True Sith. It had not been explained until recently that Revan and Malek had in fact found the Sith Emperor who gave Revan the mission of harnessing the power of the Star Forge to weaken the Republic further. Revan and Malek accept their responsibility and return to the Republic with a massive Sith Fleet starting the Jedi Civil War in 3,959 BBY. What no one knew however (except Kreia presumably), is that Revan actually planned on turning the fleet on the Emperor himself once he had conquered the Republic. This plan failed when Malek betrayed his former master and the Jedi mind wiped Revan.

Since then, the Emperor had done a number of other things to weaken the Republic, including sending Sith spies to join the Jedi Order. The most well know case of this is when, in 3,756 BBY, the Jedi Master Barel Ovair and his Padawan Eison Gynt traveled to the Sith ruins on Yavin 4 to extinguish the spirit of Naga Sadow. History believed this to be a mission for the Jedi Order, but it is clear now that Master Ovair was secretly taking orders from the Sith Empire who wanted all possible threats, including ancient Sith rivals, dealt with before the Sith Emperor returned. In fact, it has been revealed that Ovair is actually part of a family of Sith spies that infiltrated the Order sometimes after the fall of Darth Traya and the restoration of the Jedi. More information continues to come out of Bioware regarding the Emperor's actions during his time in hiding on a regular basis.

No one knows what became of Revan after he returned to the Unknown Regions or the Jedi Exile who followed suite like she had before during the Mandalorian Wars. There are strange little hints however. If you watch the video of the Sacking of Coruscant you will notice that the Sith warriors all wear masks remarkably similar to Revan's. We can immediately rule out that this is somehow a Sith tradition of any kind because Revan obtained his mask from a Mandalorian during the Mandalorian Wars. It is also interesting to note that the Grand Master of the Jedi Order after the Great Galactic War is none other than Satele Shan, the descendant of Revan and Bastila Shan... oh snap. In a web-comic that has been comic out periodically on www.swtor.com (The Old Republic's homepage) it is revealed that the Sith want to capture and turn Satele to the dark side noting that she has, "the blood of Revan".

Whatever happened to Revan and the Exile will hopefully be revealed next year when the game finally comes out. Oh yeah, another interesting note. This era is not the last time the "True Sith" are ever see. Thousands of years later in 130 ABY (during the Legacy Era) the True Sith are reborn under the command of the fallen Jedi Darth Krayt, however it doesn't really bare any relevance to The Old Republic.

Hopefully I answered any lingering questions... anyway play the games if you haven't and I'll see you in The Old Republic next year!

The Knights of the Old Republic: Plot Summery/Analysis Part IV

2010-04-24T12:23:00.001-07:00

Welcome back true believers (thanks Uncle Stan)! Are you ready for some more Star Wars excitement? You damn well better! Anyway, in the last blog I "briefly" summarized (to the best of my ability) the plot and relevant points in the first Knights of the Old Republic. In this blog I will divulge the incredible story of Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Quick note before we begin... KOTOR II was developed by Obsidian Entertainment (not Bioware). Apparently the publisher, LucasArts, started to think that the development time on the project was taking too long and forced Obsidian to hasten their efforts. This resulted in roughly 1/3 of the content being flat out cut from the final game due to time restraints, not only leading to some untied plot threads but also to major glitches and bugs. Despite being heavily critiqued for this, KOTOR II is still considered by most RPG (role playing game) gamers to be an incredible experience that is well worth the time. So much for a quick note... lets us begin!

The story of Knights of the Old Republic II focuses on the Jedi Exile, Revan's main general during the Mandalorian Wars. The Jedi Exile is referred to as such because "she" was a player generated character and therefore could be subject to any name the player chose. Revan has the luxury of having an identity proceeding the events of the game and he refers to himself as whatever the player chooses during his time as a brainwashed servant of the Republic. Told you I would explain that... didn't think it would take until two blogs later though... my bad.

Anyway, the events of the game take place roughly five years after the events of the first where Revan has left his friends behind to pursue "something" in the Unknown Regions. He leaves everything, including his ship the Ebon Hawk behind. Unfortunately I will not have the luxury of going into why until the next blog.

So... the Exile... After the Mandalorian Wars the Jedi Exile returns to the Jedi Council on Coruscant to answer for the crimes she and the rest of Revan's Jedi committed. The council explained that she had gone against the teachings of the Jedi and that she could no longer be trusted with her power over the Force. With that said the council severs her connection to the Force and banishes her from the Order... at least that is what she is lead to believe.

Fast forward six years later, to 3951 BBY, the Jedi Order is for all intents and purposes destroyed. The Sith Lord, Darth Nihilus learns how to use his strange abilities to literally devour the Force, enabling him to destroy entire worlds. Nihilus and his protege, Darth Sion, unify what is left of the Sith after Malak's defeat and initiate the First Jedi Purge. Hundreds of Jedi fall to the newly trained assassins as a result. Out of desperation, the Jedi Order calls an emergency council at the enclave on the planet Katarr, a colony of the Miraluka (species) where they plan on discussing the future of the Order. Almost all of the remaining Jedi in the galaxy flock to the meeting. This coupled with the fact that the Miraluka, who there are millions if not billions of living on Katarr, are a naturally force-sensitive species, acted as a beacon that drew Darth Nihilus to the planet. Using his dark and twisted power, Nihilus absorbed the Force from the planet's surface killing all life on the planet instantaneously. The Jedi Order was officially dead... but this didn't stop the Sith...

So the Jedi are gone and dead. Well that sucks. But wait a minute... what about the Exile? She was severed from the Force so she could never be found right? Wrong. After the massacre of Malachor V, the Exile was depressed and had a bad case of lone wolf syndrome causing her to wander the galaxy alone. Upon returning from her emo drifting she begins to interact with other people once more and her connection to the Force slowly begins to return.

This is where Kreia comes in. Remember Kreia? Didn't think you would. Kreia was a Jedi Master and Revan's most influential teacher. After Revan's departure to fight in the Mandalorian Wars Kreia reevaluates her life and her view of the Jedi. Once Revan and Malek had disappeared after the war, Kreia went to the prominent locations Revan had visited during the war, ending her exploration at the ruins of Malachor V. There she discovers the Trayus Academy, where Revan had learned the way of the Sith. What happens next will be explained a bit later...

Anyway, after the Jedi are all dead, Kreia embarks on a quest to find the Jedi Exile, knowing her to be the only hope for the survival of not just the Jedi but the entire galaxy... why the Exile is so important is something only Kreia knows and is revealed to the Exile at the climax of the story. So Kreia finds the Exile, stubborn and bitter about the fate the council bestowed on her the Exile welcomes Kreia's tutelage after Kreia saves her from certain death. They, along with Revan's old droid T3-M4 and the smuggler Atton Rand, escape the Peragus mining facility where Darth Sion and his Sith assassins had tracked down the Exile. During the escape Kreia loses her hand to Sion's lightsaber while defending the Exile and the mining facility is destroyed by the Sith. The Exile feels excruciating pain in the hand that Kreia had lost leading Kreia to believe that she and the Exile had developed a very powerful Force-Bond.

After some misadventures on Telos IV, a planet devastated during the Jedi Civil War, the Exile runs into her old friend Bao-Dur, a Zabrak mechanic who helped create the Mass Shadow Generator (the machine that destroyed Malachor V) and joined the Exile on her journey. They discover a hidden Jedi academy on Telos' surface led by the Jedi scholar Atris, one of four living Jedi Masters in the galaxy. Atris reprimands the Exile for the mistakes of her past but lets the Exile leave with the Ebon Hawk. Once off Telos, T3-M4 reveals that it downloaded records from Atris' archives and plays a recording of the Exile's trial from six years ago. The video reveals that the Exile's connection to the Force was not necessarily severed by the Council, but by something else prior to her return from the war. The records also reveal where the remaining three Jedi Masters are.

The Exile and Kreia devise a plan to find all the Masters so that they may discuss how to stop the Sith once and for all. The mismatched group of adventurers journey across the galaxy, righting wrongs, recruiting friends and finding the lost Jedi Masters on various worlds; Nar Shadaa, Dxun (where the Mandalorian Wars actually started), Dantooine, Onderon, and Korriban. During the journey the Exile and Kreia grow closer as Kreia divulges the secrets of the Force and her mysterious past. She reveals that she was betrayed by the Jedi order and became a Sith Lord, but was betrayed by the Sith as well and became an exile much like her apprentice. The Exile also grows increasingly friendly with the shipmates she recruits helping them discover their connection to the Force and training them in the ways of the Jedi. Kreia explains these strange connections the Exile has with her friends as something almost evil in nature, saying that the Exile was leeching the Force from her companions via Force-Bonds. The true nature of this is not revealed until the climax of the game... don't worry we're almost there!

During her adventure on Korriban the Exile is attacked by Visas Marr, the sole survivor of the Katarr and Miraluka apprentice to the evil Darth Nihilus. The Exile defeats her and shows mercy. Visas is inspired by the Exile's compassion and begins to grow closer to her, much like the rest of her companions. Eventually all the Jedi Masters are found and they decide to meet in the ruins of the old Jedi Enclave on Dantooine (the enclave that was destroyed in KOTOR I).

During the meeting the masters explain that the Exile's force-bond powers are too dangerous to be left unchecked and that they must sever her connection to the force once more. This is where the true nature of the Exile's powers come to light so listen closely! During the final battle on Malachor V (Mandalorian Wars), the Exile, under the command of Revan, instructed Bao-Dur to construct a weapon of mass destruction dubbed "The Mass Shadow Generator" which had the power to destroy everything in orbit of Malachor V. Upon its completion, in order to end the war once and for all the Exile ordered its activation instantly destroying every ship, Republic and Mandalorian alike by drawing them into a gravitational vortex and crushing them utterly.

Here's a nice little quote to emphasize the magnitude of this deed:

"I remember standing on the bridge with you and watching the destruction of the Republic—watching ships full of soldiers and Jedi burn and die. I remember the look you had when you turned to me. It was the longest you'd ever looked at me. You didn't say anything—just a nod. Events move quickly then, even in my dreams. Flashes, explosions, you—falling. I could feel the pain around me. And then the memory. The drifting hulks of the Mandalorian ships, the dead—allies, friends, strangers. And then the echo. Lingering. The sound I awaken to in my nightmares. Does anyone deserve the Mandalorians' fate? Even some of their conquered worlds fared better."
- Bao-Dur to the Jedi Exile

So what did this catastrophic event do to the Exile? What severed her from the Force to begin with? Remember Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope? Remember when Grand Moff Tarkin gave the order to fire the Death Star at Alderaan and Obi-Wan said, "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." When these types of catastrophic events happen they cause a "wound in the force", something so powerful and devastating that its effects echo through the galaxy. Sometimes these wounds naturally heal and sometimes it requires an outside force to heal it. In Alderaan's case the void that was once the planet is the wound and the same could be said for Katarr, the planet devastated by Darth Nihilus. In the case of the Mass Shadow Generator the wound was not confined to the planet Malachor V itself, but rather two individuals... Darth Nihilus and the Jedi Exile.

When the generator went off Nihilus was one of its victims. However, by some strange twist of fate he "survived" the generators activation... if by survived you mean he became an unnatural insult to life who required to constantly feed on the force in order to maintain his dark and corrupted existence. The Exile had the benefit of Jedi training that helped her resist the lure of the dark side which ultimately guided Nihilus down his road of hunger and destruction. The Exile cut herself off from the Force when the generator activated in response to the echo created by the Mass Shadow Generator. If she hadn't subconsciously cut herself off from the force it would have killed her. When she began her journey with her companions six years later the Force began to return to her because she was actually feeding off her companions without even knowing it. According to Kreia, this kind of power has the potential to not only destroy entire worlds, but actually spell the end of the Force entirely which as Star Wars lore dictates, would inevitably destroy all life in the galaxy, period... Ouch.

Anyway, that's why the council wants to cut the Exile off from the Force. They believe its too risky and if she ever fell to the dark side it could mean the end as we know it. The Exile, although not happy with the decision, agrees that it is necessary and allows them to do what they have to. Just as they begin to sever her connection to the Force Kreia arrives reprimanding the council for their ignorance and their disservice to their student, the Exile. She proceeds to kill them all while the Exile lies unconscious and leaves to Telos IV to confront Atris.

A bunch of awesome stuff happens from there that I am going to bounce through pretty quick. The Exile and her companions show up on Telos to discover that Atris had fallen to the dark side and the Exile spares her life after kicking her ass. Atris warns her about the true nature of Kreia, or "Darth Traya, Lord of Betrayal", as she is now referred to as. She was the one who taught Nihilus how to use his abilities to devour entire worlds and she was the one who united the Sith against the Jedi after Malak's defeat. She was eventually deposed by Darth Nihilus and Darth Sion when they became obsessed with the destruction of the Jedi. Apparently Kreia tipped Nihilus off that there were a crap ton of Jedi on Telos IV (which there were not) and that he should probably show up and roll the whole planet into one nice force taco for dinner.

The Exile, with the help of Canderous Ordo (the new Mandalore) and the Mandalorians of Dxun, attack Nihilus' ship and confront the Dark Lord himself. Visas and Mandalore accompany the Exile as they fight their way to Nihilus with little hope of defeating him (he can EAT planets after all) . This is where Traya's true intention is revealed. When Nihilus tries to absorb the Force from the Exile, instead of killing her and revitalizing himself, he actually cripples himself. Apparently when a Force Wound tries to absorbed the Force from another Force Wound bad things happen. With Nihilus' trump card being rendered useless the trio makes him shit sideways and his tragic existence is finally put to an end.

The motley crew of galaxy-faring adventurers make their way to the remains of the planet Malachor V where the Exile intends on confronting Darth Traya and prevent her from... wait what is her plan? Well apparently the planet Malachore V actually shares its wound with the Exile, so (and bare with me here the details are sketchy) if Traya sacrifices herself to open up the wound on the planet again she will kill the Exile (I guess the combination of both the Force Bond with Traya and the planet's bond to the exile being severed at the same time would kill her) resulting in a larger wound opening that's echo would never reach its destination ultimately killing the Force... yeah I know its weird and doesn't make much sense but I'm not an expert here okay...

Anyway the Exile rolls through an army of Sith assassins and trashes Darth Sion after convincing him to let go of his pain by allowing himself to die. The Exile confronts her former master and friend defeating her. The Exile tries to save Traya, who tells her she already has, and that by killing her, the Exile has awarded Traya, more than she could possibly know. Its actually an incredibly depressing scene. Traya confesses her love (unconditional of course) for her pupil and tells her, "Know that much may happen here, but above all, do not forget this – you may trust in me. We cradle each other's lives, and what threatens one of us, threatens us both. And if you find you cannot trust me, trust in your training. Trust in yourself. Never doubt what you have done."

Traya dies of her wounds after telling the Exile to journey to the Unknown Regions to search for Revan, for his quest may mean the salvation of the galaxy... salvation from the return of the True Sith. The Exile leaves the planet on the Ebon Hawk after re-activating the Mass Shadow Generator to destroy the remains of the planet and finally close the wound for good. With that, the Exile leaves to search for Revan and thus ends one of the most unique chapters in Star Wars lore.

Sorry for the long ass blogs, but I promise this is leading somewhere. In this next and final blog I will jump 300 years in the future and briefly describe the events immediately proceeding the MMO, The Old Republic, and finally reveal "what" or "who" is the source of all my "I'll get to that later"'s... but just for a moment let me elaborate on my final thoughts of KOTOR II. KOTOR II had a great story for the most part but could have been so much better if LucasArts had given Obsidian the time to complete their vision. There are certain aspects of the story that fall flat due to cut content (Darth Nihilus for instants) that could have been far more meaningful and interesting if the content hadn't been severely cut. I think the most meaningful aspect of the story to take from this game is the relationship between the Exile and Kreia. It really is some great writing. It is something that you really don't see in Star Wars, much less in video games in general. When I played through the final hour of the game I was actually really sad about the tragic fate of Keia, and her telling you (the Exile) how much she really cared for you and believed in you doesn't help at all! Anyway, despite its problems its a good game.

Join me next time for the stunning conclusion in Part V!

The Knights of the Old Republic: Plot Summery/Analysis Part III

2010-04-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome back! You had enough yet? Too bad, because we haven't even made it to the first game yet!!!... I will promise, however, that I will try to fit both the first and second Knights of the Old Republic games into this one blog entry in as short a blog as possible. Soooooo, here we go!

Last time I described the events of the Mandalorian War and left off with Revan taking his fleet to the Unknown Regions. So what did Revan find in the Unknown Regions and why did he go there in the first place?... Well you'll just have to wait until the last blog to get that answer. Anywho, Revan and his buddy Alek disappear for a good long while at the end of the war and suddenly reappear a year later with an enormous Sith fleet. Uh oh. The Jedi hero that single-handedly stopped the Mandalorians from wiping out the Republic has returned and he's here to take what's his... the galaxy.

... Wait what? Why did Revan turn on the Republic? I mean, he was a valiant hero who had already technically fell to the dark side before he finished the war. And where the hell did he acquire a fleet that could match the power of the Republic? The latter will be answered in this self-same blog, but the former... you might have to wait until Part V.

Anyway, so there it is. The newly dubbed "Darth" Revan and his Sith apprentice Darth Malek (formerly Alek) are wreaking havoc on the Republic. Well eventually a young and brash Jedi Knight by the name of Bastila Shan leads a strike team to defeat Revan in an attempt to stop the war. They succeed... to a certain degree. Bastila's team boards the ship and does battle with the Dark lord himself, but with little hope for victory. Fortunately for the Jedi (not so much for Revan) Malek sees this as the perfect opportunity to strike at his master and usurp the title of Dark Lord of the Sith. Unconscious and on the verge of death, Bastila uses the force to stabilize Revan and prevent his death creating a force bond with Revan. Bastila returns Revan to the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine where they decide to use the force to brainwash the Sith Lord (which I might add, is a horribly unethical thing to do... Bioware doesn't paint a very good picture of the Jedi Order and their methods).

Revan forgets everything relevant to his former life and assumes the identity of a Republic soldier who serves on Bastila's ship. You see, after the defeat of Revan, Bastila had become a primary target for Malek due to her Battle Meditation ability that was vital to the Republic's war efforts. Malek tracks her down and attacks her ship while in orbit over the planet Taris. Revan meets up with a Reublic soldier named Carth Onasi (God I hate that character) and they save Bastila from the clutches of the Sith present on the planet. Knowing Bastila would be of better use if Malek could turn her to the dark side, he waits for a bit in hopes that his agents could track her down and capture her. When the trio of mismatched adventurers (and some other friends) are about to make their escape from the planet Malek orders his fleet to destroy the planet in an attempt to destroy Bastila. (He was hardcore... destroying billions so he could kill one). The planet is destroyed in vain as Revan and Bastila escape just in time in their newly acquire ship, the Ebon Hawk.

Bastila senses the power of the Force regrowing within Revan and takes him the Jedi Enclave on Dantooine. The masters decide to train him (retrain!) and after an incredibly short time he begins to manifest his old power. During this time he and Bastila (due to their bond) have a vision of an ancient ruin on Dantooine's surface. The Jedi tell Revan that they are having these visions because the force is effectively guiding them in their efforts to defeat the Sith, when in reality, Revan is actually having bits of his memory restored, including his defeat by the hands of Malek.

They are sent to investigate the old ruins and discover a Star Map tens-of-thousands of years old. After another vision of similar star maps spread throughout the galaxy the council sends them on a mission to collect the data from the remaining four so that they can learn where Malek is getting all his power (fleets mainly) from.

Okay, okay... HOLD ON! Why is Revan remembering this stuff? When did this all happen? Where the hell did he get that damn fleet from?

Remember the Rakata from Part I? Yeah, that was important. Right around the time Revan leaves to the Unknown Regions he makes a stop on the ancient Sith world Korriban, where he discovers the first Star Map. Him and Malek travel the galaxy collecting the data from the Star Maps until they have a complete map of the ancient Infinite Empire, once ruled by the Rakata. The complete map points them to the location of the Rakata home world, Lehon, as well as the location of the ancient Rakata construct, the Star Forge, an interstellar factory that harnesses the power of the darkside and the power of Lehon's star to create entire fleets in incredibly short periods of time. Revan visits what is left of the Rakata people and after taking advantage of their generosity, takes control over the Star Forge. Thus, Revan creates a Sith fleet and wages war on the Republic.

Anyway, Revan journeys across the galaxy, finding the star maps (again) and picking up some valuable allies along the way. Eventually they are ambushed by the Sith ship, Leviathan under the command of Admiral Saul Karath, a once proud Republic soldier who betrayed his people (and Carth) when the Sith showed up. He ordered the destruction of Carth's home world Telos IV (along with Carth's family). After a large battle that ensues inside the ship, Carth gets vengeance for his family and the trio (Revan and Bastila) head back to the Ebon Hawk to make their escape. Darth Malek shows up and reveals to Revan that he is, in fact, the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Revan (one of the best twists in video game history. At this point in the game the player should have no clue that the player character is actually Revan.) After a short battle Revan is forced to leave Bastila behind as she holds Malek off for their escape.

One sec... need to catch my breath... almost done here....

Revan, now aware of what he once was (and realizes that he is slowly recovering his memory), obtains the final star map and discover the location of the Star Forge. They travel to the Rakata system and crash land on Lehon thanks to an electromagnetic field produced by the Star Forge that disables unidentified ships once it gets within proximity (presumed to be a defense that protected the Rakata millenia ago from their former slaves' attacks). Revan runs into savage Rakata warriors and discovers the Elder council, who remembers him and are not too happy about his deception the last time they met. Revan fixes that problem by doing them a solid when he defeates the savage Black Rakata and saves some of the Ancients that had been kidnapped.

During this time Darth Malek is attempting to turn Bastila to the dark side. He eventually succeeds and sends her to defend the magnetic field control on the peak of the Temple of the Ancients on Lehon. Revan learns that he needs to disable the field and the Elders assist him in gaining access into the Temple. Revan, along with the assistance of his friends Jolee Bindo and Juhani, fight their way through Dark Jedi and ancient Rakata droids and eventually reach the control field guarded by Bastila.

Bastila attempts to appeal to Revan's former personality and the love they feel for each other (love that had been developing throughout the course of the adventure) to steer Revan back down the dark path. Revan refuses and combats his love forcing her to retreat to the Star Forge. Revan disables the magnetic field and Carth sends a warning to the Republic fleets urging them to come to Lehon now and take down the Star Forge once and for all. With the Republic not too far behind the Ebon Hawk boards the Star Forge and Revan leads a strike team deep into the heart of the ancient super weapon. When the Republic arrives they find themselves in a bit of a pickle. Bastila was using her Battle Meditation against the Republic.

Revan confronts Bastila once more attempting to turn her away from her dark path. Se attempts to fight him and stop his influence but her heart is not in it... she can't bring herself to strike down her love. Bastila concedes and agrees to use her battle meditation to aid the Republic in the battle while Revan goes to settle the score with his former apprentice, Malek.

The two meet in the heart of the construct. Darth Malek reprimands Revan for his ignorance claiming that he was too afraid to utilize the Forge's full potential and dedemonstrates its immense power over the dark side of the force. This is where a clear difference in their (Revan's goals when he was still a Sith) goals is explained. Malek wanted absolute power and control over the galaxy and would do whatever was necessary, ruthless slaughter or otherwise, to achieve that goal. Revan's attacks on the Republic were strategic and well devised, maximizing military victory and minimizing damage to the Republic's infrastructure. Revan didn't want to weaken the galaxy... he wanted to strengthen it. For what reason you ask? Well if you are asking that question than you are already on the right track.

Anyway Revan kicks his ass and in what is probably one of the most classic Star Wars displays of dramatic irony Malek mutters, "What would have happened had our positions been reversed? What if fate had decreed I would be captured by the Jedi? Could I have returned to the light, as you did? If you had not led me down the dark path in the first place, what destiny would I have found?"

Revan is declared the "Prodigal Knight" by the Jedi Order and the Republic is saved... for now. Shortly after the destruction of the Star Forge and the defeat of Malek, Revan disappears leaving his friends behind and the Ebon Hawk in the care of his two droids: T3-M4 and HK-47. No one knows where he left to for sure... no one but his former master Kreia...

Well I didn't get through Kotor II because well... there was a whole lot more important facts to go over in KOTOR I than I had thought, so I am extending this blog series to five parts. See you next time!

To Be Continued in Part IV...

The Knights of the Old Republic: Plot Summery/Analysis Part II

2010-04-21T14:34:00.000-07:00

The last time we met I explained how the Star Wars time line works and a bit of history about the Rakata's Infinite Empire and the Great Hyperspace War. I'm going to skip ahead past the Great Sith War and Exar Kun and jump right on into the Mandalorian War. While what happens during that time is important and sets the stage for what's to come, it really doesn't have an enormous impact on the end product (being the Treaty of Coruscant).

So... the Mandalorian War (roughly 3,995 BBY)! The Mandalorians are a society of warriors who treasure the glory of battle above everything else. They are not a government (although the planet Mandalore has its own government) nor a race and they do not even have a formal chain of command. Their only responsibilities include upholding their very simple code and following Mandalore, the leader of the Mandalorians, whenever a new Mandalore is named. So, naturally these warriors would want to test their meddle against the most powerful force in the galaxy (the Republic). That is what a Mandalorian would tell you, but somehow that just seems too obvious and simple. The reason why the war between the Mandalorians and the Republic started in the first place has never been completely clear... until... we'll get to that (I did it again!).

Anyway the Mandalorians start something called the "Neo-Crusaders" movement, a movement in which thousands of new warriors were recruited under the unified banner of the Mandalorians. War raged for years and the Jedi sat quietly debating whether or not to intervene. It was believed by many, young Jedi and Republic citizens alike, that the Jedi Council would simply do nothing, and watch the Republic crumble... until one day, a young Jedi by the name of Revan decided he was tired of waiting and argued that the Republic required their aid if it were to survive the war. After seeking the guidance of his master, Kreia, Revan and his friend Alek travel to Cathar, a world devastated by the war, to see the true face of the war and what it has done to the galaxy. Outraged by the injustice brought on by the Mandalorians, Revan rallies Jedi from all over the galaxy to join him in defeating the Mandalorians and saving the Republic. Among those who joined him was the Jedi Exile, a war hero who's name is lost to history (and I will explain why later) and legions of young Jedi who were tired of the Council's pacifism. This was the turning point of the war.

It was during the war that Revan began his path on the dark side. His discovery of the Trayus Academy, an old Sith enclave on Malachor V, revealed to him some disturbing and ancient Sith secrets. The war finally ends at the Battle of Malachor V (3,960 BBY) where Revan defeated Mandalore the Ultimate in single combat and gave the order to the Jedi Exile to activate the Mass Shadow Generator which utterly destroyed all life on the planet's surface instantaneously. The Jedi Council condemns all the Jedi who participated in the war and the Exile is the only one who returns to answer for her crimes. The rest of the Jedi and 1/3 of the Republic Fleet, travel with Revan to the Unknown Regions of space... starting to see a connection yet? Well we'll get into that later (I'm a real bastard aren't I?).

To be continued in Part III!

The Knights of the Old Republic: Plot Summery/Analysis Part I

2010-04-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

In light of the much anticipated release of Bioware's new Star Wars MMORPG, The Old Republic, set to release next spring, I have decided to analyze and decode the enormously complex plot that spans thousands of years in the Star Wars lore. If you have not played Knights of the Old Republic or Knights of the Old Republic II (Xbox and PC) I would suggest you stop reading this now due to massive spoilers (unless of course you never plan on playing either game, which would be very disappointing due to their sheer awesomeness). Star Wars' time line is based on BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin) and ABY (After the Battle of Yavin) which makes the final space battle in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope their version of the birth of Christ I suppose. In the Kotor era (Knights of the Old Republic) they use BTC (Before the Treaty of Coruscant) and ATC (After the Treaty of Coruscant), which was a treaty signed after the True Sith reappeared after a millennium of exile and sacked the Republic capital of Coruscant... but we'll get back to that. These two time lines can be confusing because prior to ToR's (The Old Republic) creation the Kotor era was still using the BBY time line. To put this in perspective the Treaty of Coruscant was signed in 3,653 BBY, so I will try my best to convert anything that is recorded in BTC/ATC to BBY.... now that the confusion is out of the way...

This analysis will focus on the main players and major events associated with this era, so some details will be left out... there's so much detail! I will attempt to be brief with my summery... so let us begin...

In 49,000 BBY (yeah, an even longer time ago in the same galaxy that happens to be far, far away) an ancient race of force-sensitive beings known as the Rakata ruled much of the known galaxy in what was called, The Infinite Empire. Many of the planets in the Republic today were once part of this vast empire and some traces of their civilization can still be unearthed all the way up to the Clone Wars/Galactic Civil War era (the movies :P). As their empire grew, so did their use of the darkside of the force and at the height of their power they had about ten billion Rakata and one trillion slaves. The slaves didn't like this very much and decided to create a plague that forever severed the Rakata species from the force weakening them and leaving them vulnerable to slave insurrection. Eventually they were pushed back to their homeworld, Lehon, where they lived in isolation for millenia... until one day when a certain someone decided to pay the species a visit... but we'll get to that.

Fast-forward 44,000 years to 5,000 BBY when the Republic defended itself from the evil forces of a newly established Sith Empire, led by the Naga Sadow, a great Sith Lord that fled to Yavin 4 (well fancy that) after his Empire was decimated. Naga Sadow's evil spirit endured through centuries of isolation in the Ancient Sith ruins until he was eventually taken care of... by... I'll get to that later. Anyway, when the empire crumbled it is presumed that at least one other Sith had escaped its destruction and fled to the Unknown Regions of space... this is probably one of the biggest and most downplayed details of this whole analysis, so try to remember that.

To Be Continued in Part II...

Fair Tax

2010-04-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest. I don't have very intimate knowledge of finances or economics in general. I do happen to think the Fair Tax plan is an interesting proposal that deserves to be considered.

According to the Fairtax website: The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment.

The FairTax Act (HR 25, S 296) is nonpartisan legislation. It abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities.

The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system.

The FairTax:

Enables workers to keep their entire paychecks
Enables retirees to keep their entire pensions
Refunds in advance the tax on purchases of basic necessities
Allows American products to compete fairly
Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
Ensures Social Security and Medicare funding
Closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
Abolishes the IRS

Its a pretty interesting prospect to say the least.

The Comic Book Industry's Struggle in the 90's

2010-04-13T09:28:00.000-07:00

The Modern Age of comics (80's-90's) is remembered for its dark and gritty comics that changed the industry forever, such as: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spawn, The Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns. The later half of this era is also marked with one of the worst downturns in the Comic Book Industry since its inception. Comic book stores and retailers all closed thanks to the speculator market and their ignorance of the industry and the effects of supply and demand. Let's look at how this all started...

In the late 1980's classic comic books (such as The Amazing Spider-Man #1 and Action Comics #1) were selling for thousands of dollars at auctions and comic book stores all over the world. This sparked interest not only in collectors, as it should, but also general traders who get their hands on something just to turn around and sell it for more. Mainstream newspapers perpetuated the problem by reporting these sales and eventually collectors were buying several copies of the same comics.

Publishers responded by manufacturing collectors’ items, such as trading cards, and “limited editions” of certain issues featuring a special or variant cover and foiled stamped covers. This led a market boom, where retail shops and publishers made huge profits and many companies, large and small, expanded their lines.

Many of these lines did not have the artistic quality or enough readers to actually hold any worth... sadly people continued to buy tons of these comics thinking they'd be worth something... they were wrong. A crash occurred, sales plummeted, hundreds of retail stores closed and many publishers downsized. In 1996, Marvel Comics, the largest company in the industry, declared bankruptcy (it has since rebounded and bought by Disney).

Since the crash film adaptaions have kept the industry on its feet, but the industry has still not yet fully recovered from the speculator crash.

Game Night(s): Episode Three Point Five

2010-04-13T08:35:00.001-07:00

Now that we had Star Wars behind us Adam assured us that Exalted will kick off fast since we only have about three weekends left and a good bit of the campaign to go. That said, Saturday night's game wasn't as amazing as I had hoped... but that's really the players' faults. Blake had literally wasted two hours in the prior session acting like a jackass by attacking a bunch of lizardmen on his own, a fight that if we had all been in, would have lasted two seconds. I ran off to a comic book club grill-out (as an honorary guest no less) in Sylvania thinking we would be getting back before the game was supposed to start... that didn't happen. Andy went to Toombs to help his dad with something and was of course, late. And Carl was doing who knows what. So we started roughly four hours late... I don't blame Adam if he wanted to rush us along.

It was a decently fun session for how rushed we were and the lore crap we learned about during our travels was pretty nifty. We got into a fight with this huge as demon thing who died before I even got to it! Other than that though there isn't too much to report. Hopefully the next couple games are packed with action and more giant demon/lizard monsters, that's all I can hope for.

My quote of the night? Well between my character constantly introducing himself by posing and having his falcon leap off his shoulder cooing, I didn't say much else. There was a fun little moment however that got the GM stamp of approval. We were talking to some ancient Panther god dude who explained how ignorant I was and stated, "You could never understand." My character having an Intelligence score of 1/5 responded with, "Understanding is for this one (I pointed to the smartest character in the party). I simply reinforce that understanding." My character said as he flexed his bicep.

See you next week :D

Game Night(s): Episode Three

2010-04-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

And thus closes the first chapter of the two campaign-long Star Wars story arch. To be as blunt as possible, it was a slaughter... in fact we are going to put all the character sheets of the dead and/or turned darkside characters in a shoebox and bury it in my backyard. Here's the post carnage report:
- Blake, turned on his brother after slaying the dark lord and "killed him" (Andy survived the blow) and became the new Dark Lord of the Sith
- Carl got hacked by the bounty hunter Nalo Cord and was put down by the force user Talon before he could attack the party
- Tali died when a pillar collapsed on her
- Don was shot in the back of the head when Nalo Cord decided to betray the party
- Jeff was shot in the face when Nalo Cord decided to betray the party
- Allysa was kidnapped and sold back into slavery by the traitor Nalo Cord (he was on a roll I guess)
- Jade, Andy's master and mother, died saving her son from the edge of death

So what does that leave us with for the next campaign? That's 6 main protagonists dead, 4 player characters dead and one turned Dark Lord. Well Andy's character is more or less scarred for life. Not only did his brother betray him and turn to the dark side, but his mother died in his arms moments after she revealed that she was, in fact, his mother. Oh yeah, he had a crush on his master the entire campaign and had no clue she was his mother... what's up with Star Wars and incest??? All of his life-long friends that he grew up with on Dantooine are either dead or captured by the Sith (the enclave got bombed) and his only remaining friends are Talon and Allysa, who is MIA.

It was a pretty eventful session to say the least and it set the stage for the next campaign pretty well (which takes place roughly one year later). In the next blog I will talk about out Exalted game on Saturday I guess.

Political Cartoons

2010-04-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

This little political cartoon depicts a somewhat downtrodden Obama trying to board an air plane with a whole bunch of luggage. This is an allegory for Obama's campaign for the 2008 presidential election commenting on how his past (and current) associations are doing more harm than good for his effort. I think this is a clever little comic that is pretty easy to understand and although the topic is outdated, it shouldn't be too hard to remember. Pretty decent art and gets the point across easily.

This cartoon is a funny little commentary on Obama's attempts to get the health-care bill passed. Obviously the bill eventually passed, but I feel this cartoon perfectly depicts what the Democrats had to do to breach the defense that was the bottle in this picture. I suppose the weapons represent the different ways they tried to get it passed through revisions and political loopholes. Maybe the chainsaw was what finally got it through... I'm mean its great against zombies so...

Now this isn't necessarily Washington or Government centric politics, but corporate politics is still politics. I hope many people should know by now that Marvel was bought by Disney and there are definelty plenty of jokes you can get from that prospect. This is a pretty mild and light-hearted comic in terms of concept and I think that may be why I like it so much. Basically it is just commenting on how strange a fit Marvel is with Disney by depicting a character filled with rage and hate wearing mickey mouse ears.

Now... this is a pretty funny comic... but I am not entirely sure what topic it is, but if I had to guess it probably applies to the healthcare bill. What the picture depicts is pretty obviously an unfortunate sexual encounter with Uncle Sam and Obama which is probably an allegory for Obama passing the healthcare bill, despite many Americans not wanting it to be passed... or it could ahve something to do with sacrificing personal liberties... could mean a number of things really.

I love Star Wars so this comic hits home for me. Its simple, its funny and it may be a bit distasteful, but honestly I like contriversial humor. This comic could mean one of two things. One, it could simply be anti-terrorism, which honestly would be kind of boring, or two, it could be a commentary on American troops and their attitude towards fighting the war. Its no secret some many be more "comfortable" with killing than other and this may be highlighting that. Poor R2 unit :(

Sources: PoliticalArticles.net, Thrive Today, Kaori's Blog, Angry God, The Jawa Report

The Ultimate Super Turbo Fighting Game Tournament Remix 2010: Tournament Edition

2010-04-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

So me and a few of my friends have come up with this pretty ambitious plan over the course of the last two days. Basically next semester we are going to host a fighting tournament and invite a crap ton of people... but this is no ordinary fighting game tournament... this is the ULTIMATE fighting game tournament. We will pick probably around twenty fighting games out of whichever are offered to be used (we have most that we need already) and probably have between ten and twenty participants all competing to win a.... drum roll please.... CAKE!

We have no console prejudice and as long as we can get it we'll use anything from a Genesis to an Xbox 360. We will probably set the tournament up in a rather basic fashion. Players will play three matches (may change depending on the game) of each game and get a point for each game match they win. The player with the most wins at the end wins the cake... and no... I don't think we will attempt a convoluted bracket system.

Here's a list of game franchises we are considering: Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Primal Rage, Clay Fighter, Virtua Fighter, Capcom VS series, Super Smash Bros., Guilty Gear, BlazBlue, Dead or Alive, Soul Caliber, Art of Fighting, Tekken, Dark Stalkers, Dragon Ball Z, Shaq-Fu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighter... to name a few.

Not sure how big we want to make it, but we're going to want to invite an audience as well, so hopefully all goes well!

In the spirit of the tournament I declare this our theme song:

Movie Review: Turtles Forever

2010-04-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

If there is any one thing that defines my childhood it's The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I started watching the Ninja Turtles before I could even walk and the turtles' names were among some of my first words... oh and pizza. I would don (see what i did there) my Ninja Turtle cloths, play with my Ninja Turtles action figures and sing the Ninja Turtles theme song as I ran through my old New York apartment. They were what I aspired to be.

25 years later its hard to find someone who hasn't heard of the quartet of kung fu reptiles and while many kids may be familiar with a more contemporary iteration of the Turtles, retailers and merchandisers still sell plenty of first generation Turtle schwag for the nostalgic suckers in my generation. So what did I think when I heard that, in response to selling the rights to produce Ninja Turtles cartoons to Nickelodeon, they were making one last feature length movie depicting an adventure spanning three Turtle-verses and starring the casts of the original 90's Ninja Turtles, the contemporary Turtles AND the Eastman and Laird comic book Turtles? ... I think I crapped my pants in that moment. Sadly I had completely forgotten about the plan months and months ago. It wasn't until recently that I remembered its existence and discovered the movie had already been released. So I did what any true Ninja Turtles fan would do and downloaded it (DVD release hasn't even been announced yet). This is a review of that film...

The movie opens up with the new Turtles discovering that doppelgangers have shown up to fight their baddies for them... and got captured in the process. The two Turtles teams eventually meet up and find out that the 90's Turtles accidentally sent themselves and the Technodrome to the new Turtle's universe. They do an incredibly great job contrasting the two teams and portraying the tongue-and-cheek mentality of the Turtles I grew up with. Eventually the 90's Shredder (literally one of my favorite villains in fiction, period) and brain without a body, Krang, figure out what has happened and Shredder, in his misguided ambition and excitement, attempts to locate this universe's version of him thinking he can team up with what he believes to be some super bad ass version of himself. He learns however, that this version of Shredder really has no intrest in teaming up and is completely and totally ruthless. Many hilarious shenanigans ensue and without ruining what happens they end up in "Turtle Prime", home of the original comic book Turtles (or more specifically, the Turtles as they appeared in the first few issues). Its awesome how they acknowledge in the Ninja Turtles universe (or multiverse I guess) that the original comics is where it all began.

The movie is a great adventure for fans young and old, but is way better if you are familiar with the many forms the Turtles have taken over the last 25 years. I am not very familiar with the newer Turtles, but they seemed to act a lot like the Turtles of the New Line films, with the exception of Donatello acting like Corey Feldman. The voice acting for the 90's Turtles was as good as you could possibly do without getting the original actors (its been two decades...) with the exception of Leonardo... he sounds weird. The animation was pretty damn good as well and the fight scenes were surprisingly epic.

Bottom line the movie was awesome. Seeing characters like the original April, Rocksteady, Bebop and Krang running around in a movie made in 2009 made my nostalgia glad almost explode. I give the film 5 Anti-Technodrome roller skates out of 5.

Spring Break Blog: Camping

2010-04-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

Looking back at my "To Do List" it appears I have yet to do the Spring Break blog I was assigned a pretty long time ago. Well there's no time like the present right? I had some pretty interesting plans early on but ended up shafting them for simply going home and relaxing. Honestly I don't regret that decision in the least. I got some well deserved (and needed) relaxation and hung out with a lot of my old friends.

Other than that I camped. Now, my family is not a big camping family, in fact my mother and I are the only ones who even slightly enjoy the prospect. Fortunately my family was not involved with this trip. The last three times I have camped in the last seven years has been with my buddy Jeff (and his dad and brother depending on the specific trip) who makes what would normally be a boring and nightmarish endeavor into a fun adventure. By adventure I don't mean hiking or fishing or finding ancient artifacts... my definition of adventure is much simpler.

Adventure - Staying in the wilderness for more than an hour.

Most people these days hate camping. As the comedian Jim Gaffigan put it, "the only happy camper is the guy leaving the campsite." Too many people these days think you have to be an outdoorsy person to enjoy camping, but I'm not one by any stretch of the imagination so that can't be it... I just don't think people understand how to have simple fun anymore. I am the product of the information age. I have played video games since the age of two and have the attention span of a hamster on speed, but even I understand there is fun to be had in the dark scary woods.

Its simple really. Make sure you bring the right equipment to be comfortable and make sure you bring some entertaining friends. I think the problem most campers have is not bringing the right people on the trip. We (me, Jeff, his brother Davy, Tim and his girlfriend Heather) literally did nothing but talk and joke around for hours and I had the time of my life.

Its pretty simple really... unless I just have really entertaining friends... I here bringing alcohol helps, but I don't drink so I can't really support that theory.... Anyway camping can be fun, you're just doing it wrong.

Anticipating the Summer

2010-04-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

It would be insane to say that I do not anticipate the summer and so as to not waste anymore of your time, yes, I can't wait for the summer. Why is that? Well for one, I won't be in school so my stress levels will drop substantially. This semester has been my most ambitious and consequently most difficult semester yet. Every moment I have between all the work I must slam my face against is spent fantasying about setting in a lawn-chair in my backyard drinking a soda doing nothing.

I do have some cool plans for the summer however. I am supposed to meet some of my family from Pittsburgh up (somewhere) and hang out with them for a few days. Then my cousins from Tampa have vague plans to come up to Atlanta for about a week, a tradition a decade old. Probably going to spend a good amount of time up at the lake house around July 4th and hopefully get to ride some jet skies and maybe even get to whitewater raft. For what I would have to say is the highlight of the summer, in late July, I am going to the San Diego Comic Con with my step-dad and get autographs galore. Before fall semester starts back up I am supposed to go to Mayhem Festival in August (Korn, Rob Zombie, Lamb of God... you get the picture). In lieu of all this I am running a Mass Effect d20 campaign and playing in a D&D 4.0 campaign weekly AND possibly working at the local retro-game store.

... and probably mow lawns too...

So do I have enough time to relax in my backyard and take afternoon naps? Probably not, but hopefully I won't have too.

History of the Berlin Wall

2010-04-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

After World War II, Germany was divided into four occupying zones split between the Allied powers. Two years later, due to an increasingly hostile political climate, the US, UK and French zones combined into one zone.

The Soviet Union's Eastern Bloc in an attempt to seize more power and bring all of Germany under Soviet control, instituted many things, the most notable of which was the Berlin Blockade, preventing food, materials and supplies from arriving in West Berlin. The allied response was known as the Berlin Airlift that assisted those cut off by dropping off food and supplies.

Eventually the the Soviets ceased the blockade, but the conflict changed Berlin for years to come. The eastern block took complete control over East Germany, forming the German Democratic Republic, and the allies helped form the Federal republic of Germany in West Germany.

Many people found ways to emigrate from East Germany to West Germany easily in the 50's which angered the Soviets and led to what they called the "Brain Drain". Many of their young working citizens were leaving East Germany costing them billions of dollars.

East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles, and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along the 97 miles around the three western sectors, and the 27 miles that divided West and East Berlin.

Soldiers stood in front of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect. Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields, and other obstacles were installed along the length of the inner-German border between East and West Germany.

Many families were split, while East Berliners employed in the West were cut off from their jobs. West Berlin became an isolated enclave in a hostile land.

While many people continued to try to cross the border to the West the two halves of a once great city attempted to cope on its own. It is estimated that around 100-200 people were killed attempting to cross the border.

"We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" - Ronald Reagan

After the wall came down Germans reunited with their friends and family that they hadn't seen in decades and the great country of Germany was once again united. The Berlin Wall symbolized the Cold War in a nushell and its collapse signaled the end of the conflict. The wall has not only effect Germany for the remainder of its existence but helped shape Europe for decades to come.

Game Night: Episode Two

2010-04-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

Looks like we've made it to the homestretch. This Friday is our last game of the campaign (finally) and I get to make all the players crap their pants. With that said I had to do something special for the game that preceded it. I couldn't make it completely bland and boring compared to the climax of the entire campaign... but things don't always turn out as you plan. That's not to say the game was not fun, it was, I just never really foresee all the distractions and setbacks we always run into.

Carl just straight up didn't show and never called to let us know that he was going to sleep the entire time. The result? His droid is a talking head... warned you dude! On a different note I finally gave Allysa and Don something interesting to do. I feel like I neglect them sometimes because their characters came in relatively late and we never got around to fleshing out their characters or really making them relevant. Giving Don a connection (via cultural origin) with one of the baddies and Allysa a buddy-buddy relationship with one of the main party NPCs (non-player character) made things a whole lot more interesting and will lead to some interesting developments leading up to the final session.

Other than that Andy hadn't gotten any sleep the night before and took about 45 minutes to figure out what his character wanted to say because he was so out of it and Blake threw a hissy fit because he got shot (which was hilarious). I'm confident that the final session will be pretty epic and as I begin to prepare for the next campaign I will be running next semester (not Star Wars) I know who to invite next time and who I won't be inviting... some people are just not cut out for sitting around a table role playing as fantasy/science fiction characters it seems... don't know if that's a good or bad thing...

Favorite Piece of Art... Mass Effect? Part 2

2010-04-05T15:08:00.000-07:00

In the last segment of this two part blog (something I seem to do a lot) I went over why I believed Mass Effect to be a work of art in a board sense and outlined some of the achievements of its narrative (and probably did not do it justice). I will now attempt to explain the awesomeness of its other assets.

Let us begin with the acting. Normally when you think of video games you do not think of acting. Many gamers underestimate the importance of voice acting in the video game industry assuming that many of the games' "cinematic" features rest solely on the graphics. While this is true (and trust me, Mass Effect has the area covered) video games are looking and feeling more and more like movies everyday, and as we all know, acting is an enormous aspect of film. Relying on graphics for your cut scenes may have been important in the 90's, but times change. With all that said, Mass Effect has some of the most superb voice acting I have ever seen in a video game (on par with some of Pixar's best films) and both games have great casts with well known actors such as (film and voice actors): Seth Green, Keith David, Martin Sheen, Jennifer Hale, Adam Baldwin, Steve Blum, Tricia Helfer, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and even Yvonne Strahovski. Some of the actors even use there likeliness for the characters they play: Jeff "Joker" Moroe (Seth Green) and Miranda Lawson (Yvonne Strahovski).

In terms of art direction I would have to say that Mass Effect has a nice balance of new yet familiar. You can tell its a Sci-Fi epic by looking at it, but the game offers amazing and stunning visuals that may surprise even the most jaded science fiction buff. Mass Effect has some of the coolest looking aliens I have ever seen.

To top it all off, Mass Effect has some of the most unique and interesting lore of any science fiction setting ever seen in fiction. As young as it is, Mass Effect has an enormous amount of depth that will gives us decades of fun and intrigue. Strangely enough, the game is also considered hard science fiction, making it a very believable and relate-able universe. Some well know astronomers and physicists have actually commented on how accurate some of the game's theories are. If you are not into all the scientific mobo-jumbo however, fear not! Most of the scientific lore in the game is optional. When it comes down to it though, the aliens make the lore as awesome as it is.

Anyway I think I have burned out this topic. Moral of the story: Mass Effect is awesome and if you haven't played it please do so. Now, as I promised, the launch trailer for Mass Effect 2, the best launch trailer in video game history:

Favorite Piece of Art... Mass Effect? Part 1

2010-04-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

Mass Effect, a Bioware RPG/Shooter epic released in 2007, is probably among one of the best works of art I have ever witnessed in my life. I picked Mass Effect because it is one of the only video games I have ever played that I can classify as art. From the narrative, to the art direction, to the lore, to the acting, Mass Effect is better than any film I have ever scene.

So what is this game you ask? Well the story of Mass Effect (or rather the Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect 2 came out last January) takes place in the late 22nd century after humanity has discovered ancient technology left on Mars by an extinct race of space faring beings and joined the galactic community after unlocking the secrets of FTL travel (Faster-than-light) and mass effect fields. You play Commander Shepard, a human marine who's background you can choose for yourself and whose journey you can play out in any way you want. Shepard is the player's character and no one will play the exact same Shepard.

I won't bother going anymore into the plot than I already have because, honestly, I don't want to spoil it and because I honestly don't need to. The other aspects of this game can speak for themselves. That isn't to say the narrative itself is not formidable, on the contrary, Mass Effect has one of the most compelling stories ever told in the video game medium.

Let's start with what makes this game a brilliant story; the narrative structure. Basically the game can be classified as an RPG (role playing game) not only because it has many of the same game play mechanics but because you ultimately have full rein of how your Shepard progresses through the story. You can be a nice guy... or you can be a douche... or you can be something in between. Bioware has a gift of writing very morally ambiguous stories and you are constantly bombarded by these decisions throughout the story. Most decisions are not between right or wrong, they are between logical and what you feel in your gut, between convenience and risk, between the lesser of two evils and sometimes both decisions sit on very sound foundations. Those are the best kind of decisions and why this game's story telling is ultimately so compelling.

Minor spoilers: My favorite part of both games, is not an epic space battle, or an emotional romantic scene. In Mass Effect 2 the game digs deeper into one aspect of their lore in which, long story short, one species used a stability plague against another species to end a war. Throughout the entirety of the first game you hear nothing but the Krogan's side of the argument (the species that got effected by it) and you will most likely come out thinking the Salarians are responsible for a horrible crime. In the second game you get the full explanation of the Salarian's side of the argument. This all coalesces in one amazing scene in which you take your teammate, Dr. Mordin Solus, a Salarian scientist partly responsible for the re-engineering and re-implementation of the genophage (sterility plague), to the Krogan homeworld to save his old colleague. Upon arrival you investigate the labs scattered throughout the base riddled with the corpses of test subjects. It turns out the Krogan had been running experiments on living subjects to try to cure the genophage, and after defending the plague for the entire game Mordin shows an enormous amount of self doubt and maybe even guilt at what he sees. It is one of the most compelling scenes in fiction I have ever experienced... honestly the writers need some awards for it... as well as Mordin's voice actor.

Holy crap turns out there is a lot to talk about here. Well might as well talk about it more in my online journalism blogs!

Well here is the launch trailer for the first game... the Mass Effect 2 launch trailer made me crap my pants the first time I watched it... I post that one in part 2:

To Be Continued...

Joe Lieberman... he needs his own party it seems

2010-03-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

Lieberman is a very controversial figure on the political stage. Once called a Republican. Once called a Democrat. Now known by most as an Independent. It seems he's never sure what he wants to be or what he believes. I think the parties caught on...

Without boring the class with the man's political history I will go over some of the reasons for why he is seen as the nomad that he is.

Strange/Ironic Things he's done to earn his status:

- Lieberman was the first prominent Democrat to publicly challenge Bill Clinton regarding his affair, but voted against impeachment when the time came

- Lieberman spoke at the annual conference of Christians United for Israel then later, accepted from John Hagee CUFI's "Defender of Israel Award." Pastor Hagee, CUFI's founder and leader, once said the Catholic Church is, "the great whore" and a suggestion that God sent Adolf Hitler to bring the Jews to Israel.

- While favoring the filibuster and threatening to use it in 2009 to eliminate a public health option as part of the healthcare proposal, Lieberman once strongly opposed it. In 1995, he joined with Senator Tom Harkin to co-sponsor an amendment to kill the filibuster. “The filibuster hurts the credibility of the entire Senate and impedes progress,” Lieberman told the Hartford Courant.

If you want more watch Daily Show reruns...

Game Night(s): Episode One

2010-03-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

This week we played both my Star Wars campaign and Adam's Exalted campaign, mine on Friday and Adam's on Sunday. Not something we do very often considering scheduling conflicts... we have a lot of people to balance.

Well lets start off with Star Wars shall we... well... it was a pretty important session, but unfortunately my players were not in the best form that night. Sometimes people are just bad at roleplaying (often the case of my group) and sometimes its just an off day. I suppose it was probably both. The problem with Star Wars often times is that it can get bogged down in long and convoluted fights. A lot of numbers and a lot of characters all being balanced at once can make the story drag sometimes and Star Wars' combat system tends to have that effect unfortunately.

Despite that we got through what we needed to... even if some things were not as climactic as I had hoped. Blake's character and Andy's character are brothers and when Andy found out Blake had betrayed the party the exchange was horribly boring and lackluster. At least the scene of Carl's droid going postal in the engineering room gave us all a good laugh (he killed a technician with a screw driver).

As for Adam's campaign, we started super late and didn't get much done but I suppose it was still pretty fun. My character, being the insane badass that he is, decided to (instead of walking) do back-handsprings down a twelve mile long road (our characters are not ordinary humans fyi), but my roll only allowed me to travel 10 miles in that fashion before getting exhausted. I also dropped a slinky down a mile half-mile high step pyramid... took fifteen minutes for it to reach the bottom. Oh yeah, we sent Blake to go scout ahead and see what these lizard guys were up to and he ended up attacking them and almost getting himself killed. That was entertaining.

That was about it. Adam's game was pretty short and not much happened but I had fun. Only two sessions left with Star Wars, so hopefully I can get the players' roleplaying juices flowing... there are more twists and betrayals to come and if the ending isn't as climactic as I want it to be someone is going to have a broken face.

Game Review: Portal

2010-03-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know, I know. Late to the party right? Well despite hearing the rabid fan praise of Valve's pet project, Portal, I never got around to playing it... until now. Released in 2007, Portal, has aged well... incredibly well. So what is the premise of this game you ask?

Well, Portal is presumably set in the not-too-distant future of the popular Half-Life franchise (many references are made to "Black Mesa", an organization in Half-Life), where you find yourself as a test subject in a strange facility. You never make contact with any other humans the entire game and share the confines of the testing facility with an insane AI that has gone Skynet on the whole place. That's about as much of the plot as I can explain without ruining the story... but the AI promises cake when you finish the tests... okay that's all I can say.

This game is incredibly innovative. It can best be described as a First-Person Shooter/Puzzle/Platformed... not a common combination. Basically you get this gun, right? Well this gun doesn't shoot bullets, oh no no no. This gun shoots portals. You can create an entrance and exit portal on certain types of surfaces (which is meant to make the puzzles more difficult to solve). This mechanic is very refined and very very fun. Not only are the puzzles interesting and challenging, but the gun itself is so fun to play around with.

Here is the launch trailer from four years ago. (The footage looks a bit different than the final game because it was probably done during an early stage of development):

I cannot forget to mention the AI, who's ironically pleasant voice torments you throughout the entire game. Props to Valve for making a fun experience have a good many laughs added. A fun little game that was just a long as it should have been (only took me about a 1 1/2 hours). Portal comes packaged in The Orange Box, a collection of games available on the Xbox 360 and PC, along with Half-Life 2: Episodes 1 and 2, and Team Fortress 2. For $30 new, its a hard deal to beat.

I give the game 4 cakes out of 5. Mmmmm.... what a delicious cake.... >:)

Cowboy Bebop: A Look Back... Part Dos

2010-03-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to the review/look back at one of the greatest animes in television history!

Each episode can usually be watched out of order, besides from a few key episodes that follow the individual struggles of the main characters (Spike's being the main underling plot of the show). Because of this, you can jump right in and enjoy a half hour of good ol' bounty hunting fun, unlike many animes in which it is impossible to understand what it is happening if you jump into the show anytime after the first episode. It was also planned out to only be 26 episodes from the beginning. Everything was completely thought out, giving the show a nice complete feeling when watching the whole thing.

Despite many of the episodes showcasing the characters being thrown into wacky situations, many of which hold no baring on the main plot, there is quite a large amount of twists and character development. These revelations are paced throughout the series fairly well, especially the mystery of Spike's past, which is slowly hinted at until it is finally explained in the final two episodes.

Going back and watching this series reminded me how great anime can be (something that I really haven't been too sure of for the past five or six years), and for that it would be stupid of me to not praise this for what it really is. Cowboy Bebop is a masterpiece of the anime medium and is an absolute essential to anyone who has ever shown any interest in anime. If you haven't seen it please do so. It's been nearly a decade since I had last watched the series and I have got to say its even better than I remembered it. I give Cowboy Bebop 5 jazzy dog fights out of 5.

Oh, and yeah, the fight scenes are incredible:

WARNING: The final episode will make your cry.

Cowboy Bebop: A Look Back... Part Uno

2010-03-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

September of 2001 was a pretty eventful month. Among other things (more important things) there was one good ray of awesome that shined through (kind of) the dreary rainclouds of America. On September 2, 2001, Adult Swim aired Cowboy Bebop, a stylish action anime, for the first time on American television. Why does this matter? Cowboy Bebop is widely recognized as one of the greatest achievements in anime history, more so in America than in Japan. Its genre can best be described as a Science Fiction, Action/Adventure, Western, Crime drama.

The show features 26 episodes and a feature film that follows the adventure of the bounty hunter Spike Spiegel an aloof yet incredibly wise young man with a mysterious past and a love for jazz. The owner of their ship, the Bebop, Jet Black (I see what they did there), an ex-cop turned cowboy after he discovered the corruption in the system. Jet's down-to-earth and not afraid to tell his crew they are acting like idiots (which they often do). Faye Valentine, a woman from another time with a gambling (and debt) problem who covers up her insecure need to belong with a vain facade of girl power. Then there's Edward, the little androgynous girl (her gender is questioned several times throughout the series) whose hacking skills and extremely eccentric nature provides the comedy relief of the series. Oh yeah... then there's Ein... a Welsh Corgi... pretty much all there is to him.

The show mashes together comedy and action flawlessly with a catchy jazz soundtrack that actually plays off the action like a Tom and Jerry cartoon. It also has what I happen to think is the best intro to any show in the history of television (next to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of course):

Oops ran out of time... will post the second half of the blog in a bit!

Future "Write about whatever the hell I want to" Blogs

2010-03-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

I have recently been lurking in the deep caverns of the Discovery Zone tubes that is the internet recently and I've noticed a fairly common blog topic that I never thought about before. Blogging about D&D, or more specifically, blogging about a tabletop campaign you happen to be running or playing, highlighting funny moments, interesting plot points and post carnage reports. What does all this mean? Well hopefully you know what a tabletop game is (also known as role playing game)... if you don't, as unreliable of a source as it is, Wikipedia is our friend: R ole Playing Games.

So why is this relevant to my blog? Well I'm an enormous nerd so why wouldn't I engage in the second most nerdy thing on the planet (first place being held by larping). I am currently running a Star Wars Sagas campaign with five of my close nerdy buddies every other Friday night that sadly only has three sessions left (out of 8 or 9... can't remember). I am also a player in my friend Adam's Exalted campaign where I play a musclebound, kung-fu master/pirate with a heart of gold that stands for LOVE! and JUSTICE! Don't judge me.

Anyway, I will probably post a bit about these sessions once a week, seeing as how they are always filled with humorous happenings and interesting player/player conflict that bleeds into reality every now and then.

Hopefully you guys enjoy the little window I will give this blog into my nerdy Fridays.

What am I Passionate About?

2010-03-25T08:46:00.001-07:00

Well I am passionate about a lot of things: comic books, video games, writing, pizza and kitties to name the most prominent. I noticed something strange however. Despite having the ability to blog about whatever I choose for Online Journalism (the smaller half of my blogs) I only ever really talk about video games and film. Well, I am going to remedy that today by discussing comic books.

I love comic books. Surprised you there didn't I? I've been an avid reader since elementary school starting with my very first comic: Sonic the Hedgehog... yeah Sonic has a comic... no I don't read it anymore. When my tastes grew a bit more refined, despite growing up watching the animated shows: Spider-Man, Batman and the X-Men, I became extremely interested with what I consider to be the heart of the Marvel Universe. Who's that you ask? Well its certainly not Spider-Man and the X-Men are always doing their own thing... so what group, which heroes sit in the center of the giant elaborate web (pun intended) that is the Marvel Universe? Who stands up to the largest threats? The toughest foes? Who are Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Yeah that's right. The god damned Avengers, that's who.

I've been reading everything that stems from the Avengers roots since middle school. Anything from Iron Man, Thor and Captain America all the way into the cosmos with books like Guardians of the Galaxy. I have tons of books full of old reprints from the 60's and 70's that quite honestly are just as fun to read now as they were back then (I'm sure).

Is there anything I wish I could change about this passion? Well for one I wish it didn't cost so damn much and/or had more disposable income... I've also been meaning to branch out more... for a while now. If I branch out to anything it most certainty will not be more super hero stuff. I like my Marvel heroes as it is and DC is just not my cup-o-tea. I would prefer something western, but manga (Japanese/backwards comics) can often times yield some interesting narratives.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Game Reviewing... is it Journalism? Part IV

2010-03-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

And now we've reached the final chapter of this vaguely interesting/poorly researched endeavor. I claimed throughout this blog that these reviewers often cut corners and don't deliver sincere reviews to their readers. Well, this may be true but keep in mind not all reviewers are guilty of this and if a rating seems strangely high for a game it may be due to the unavoidable hype machine and really isn't the reviewer's fault. For those that are responsible for their bad journalism there is no sympathy for you... unless of course your employer forced this upon you and well then that just sucks now doesn't it.

When developers (or maybe is publishers) send out pre-release copies of their games to popular reviewers they often times send copies that give the player debug abilities (basically the ability to hack the game and skip ahead through levels, toggle godmode, etc,etc.). Reviewers often times utilize these tools to skip through the game to make a tight deadline or simply because their lazy. This is not cool. The game needs to be completely (or nearly completely) experienced in order to gauge a proper judgment. There is just far too much to take into account.

This is not the only thing that may happen with your favorite reviewers. Sometimes reviewers don't get a copy before release and simply base their review on someone elses' so they can compete... although this doesn't happen very often.

So how do you find a good reviewer to consistently trust? Well usually this would involve tracking down a reviewer that has similar tastes as you and often times these good reviews don't come out until a week or more after release... these are thorough and quality reviews after all. Another good way, the way I usually trust, is to see what the game's Metacritic score is (www.metacritic.com). Metacritic averages all the scores of all the major magazines (local and international) and big websites and gives a nice clean score. It provides all the sources with links and blurbs and has scores dating back to N64. Another way is to trust what your friends say... if you don't have any gamer friends (or friends in general) ask the gamers in your online community (assuming you at least have internet buddies).

So is game reviewing journalism? Well if done right then yes, yes it is.

Game Reviewing... is it Journalism? Part III

2010-03-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

Back in 2007 a nice little game called Kane & Lynch hit the market and enjoyed an average rating of the 6-7 range out of 10. Now honestly, in this day and age, that isn't that awful of a rating... however, that's not what Eidos Games thought when they read Jeff Gerstmann's review on a game review site, Gamespot. Jeff gave the game a 6.0, stating the game was "fair".

Eidos had an advertising campaign running on Gamespot at the time and demanded the website take action or else it would withdraw its ad campaign. In response to Eidos' frankly childish demand Gamespot did something even less honorable... they fired the reviewer. If that is not a sign that this is a rotton business than I don't know what is.

The fault doesn't only rest on the shoulders of the magazines and websites however. The world of gaming public relations is a dark and manipulative one that has influences good reviews for eons. Some publishers go as far as to throw parties for the reviewers and executives with strippers and alcohol galore.

The next and final installment will explain how some reviewers cut corners and write full reviews on games they barely even played and how to find reliable reviews.

Mein Kampf... beacuse someone else took Machiavelli

2010-03-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

Written between 1923 and 1925 during Adolf Hitler's imprisonment for his failed revolution, Mein Kampf is one half autobiography and one half political ideology.

The book attempts to explain where Hitler's antisemitic views stem from but ultimately fail to give a decent reason. Other than this the book has been studied as a work of political theory. Examples of this include:

- Hitler declaring the twin evils of the world: Communism and Judaism
- The "historic destiny" of the German people was to get the new territory Germany needed to obtain, explaining why he attacked both West and East Europe before he attacked Russia
- He also blames Germany's woes on the parliamentary system and describes how he wants it destroyed

Also viewed as a book of foreign policy, Mein Kampf explains Hitler's plans for German dominance which included allying with Fascist Italy and strangely enough, the British Empire.

Mein Kampf is a controversial book written by an even more controversial man. While scholars still study it today for historical purposes, few people still actually take it to heart.

Game Reviewing... is it Journalism? Part II

2010-03-11T08:18:00.000-08:00

What constitutes a good video game review you ask? Well lets start with the obvious answer. COMPLETE THE GAME. When I read a game review I operate under the assumption that the reviewer has played the game through 100% (unless stated otherwise) and therefore can judge whether the review is reliable or not.

A good review will weigh the pros and cons and will often times breakdown what was good and bad about various aspects of the game (story, graphics, sound, re-playability, etc.). A great review will give you a decent idea of the feel of the game without ruining any surprises.

And of course, the best reviews will do all this with an extra bit of humor to top it all off. Extreme example of this:

In the next blog I will discuss the horrors of this greedy industry by siting the infamous case of Gamespot's Kane & Lynch review...

The Geography of Mars

2010-03-09T08:29:00.000-08:00

Mars is geologically dead and no longer has any tectonic activity. Despite all this, Mars is about the most geographically documented of all the other planets outside our own.

Notable geographic locations:

Olympus Mons- Latin for "Mount Olympus", this is the tallest recorded volcano and mountain in the Solar System. It is almost three times the size of Mount Everest.

Valles Marineris- Latin for "Mariner Valley", is the largest known valley in the Solar System and is more than 4,000 km long, 200 km wide and up to 7 km deep. It stretches across 1/4 of the planet's circumference near the equator.

Grenade proof... that figures!

2010-03-05T10:18:00.000-08:00

My first exposure to Lupin the 3rd was back in middle school when the anime came on Adult Swim very late at night. As far as I remember I enjoyed the show and thought it was both witty and fun. The film The Castle of Cagliostro, a 1980's anime by Hayao Miyazaki, really did not disappoint. It was the right mixture of both humor and action.

After Lupin and his buddy Jigen steal a car full of counterfeit money they find themselves in a sticky situation. After saving a damsel in distress they are pulled into a crazy adventure where they uncover the secrets of a strange old European country and foil the plot of its sinister ruler. All the while fighting off spiky fingered ninjas... yeah this movies got ninjas. Along the way he meets up with old friends like Goemon, the swordsman, Zanigata, the unfortunate Interpol inspector and the femme fatale Fujiko who recites the brilliant line, "Grenade proof.... that figures!" (I did not say the English script was brilliant).

I was pretty surprised honesty. I am not familiar with Hayao Miyazaki's work (although I have heard good things) and seeing as how this movie is now thirty years old, I really did not believe it would stand up to the test of time. With so many high-caliber and all around great comedies
(take that with a grain of sarcasm) this movie proves old animes still have relevance.

From a technical perspective it was about as good as that time period offered. The film came out around the time of He-Man, and we all know how crappy that show's animation was. Audio wise I really didn't think the English dub was all that bad. Usually (especially with earlier movies) animes have horrible dubs, but this was not all that bad despite having different voice actors than what I was used to (when I watched the TV series back in the day).

All in all it was a pretty decent flick and probably even better if it were 30 years ago. I'll give it 4 grenade-proof windows out of 5.

Game Reviewing... is it Journalism? Part I

2010-03-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

I recently read a rather disturbing article on www.escapist.com that discusses some of the ways video game reviewers cut corners to finish an article by deadline. Now I always knew that this was a business prone to being bribed and influenced by hype, but I never thought there was this much poison in the system. Simply put, most game reviews are examples of bad journalism.

Now I can completely understand the problem with getting these articles done on time. Some games are so large it can take as long as 100 hours (but usually between 20 and 40 hours) to experience everything it has to offer. Movie reviews take about 2-3 hours to watch before you begin to write. This presents a large obstacle for publishers and websites who want their reviews up ASAP.

What constitutes a good video game review? Is it unethical to cut corners when reviewing? Do publications and websites lose their legitimacy when they are exposed as being "influenced" in their reviews?

Let's start with what constitutes a good video game review.

Budget Cuts for Everyone!

2010-03-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

As I am sure everyone has already learned, the University School System of Georgia is receiving enormous budget cuts from the state legislature. Now I am not going to waste my time pointing fingers. Honestly there are too many people to blame to begin with and doing so is often counterproductive. My focus is on myself and my peers. The students of the system. What is going to happen to us? Well, some of us won't even notice it... others will be completely screwed by it.

As if the plan to increase core classes and shrink major classes was not bad enough already, the budget cuts will only make it worse. The school will no longer be able to consider itself a student centered university. Oops. Many of us may not be able to graduate on time if we otherwise would have and getting into major classes is going to be more competitive than ever.

I had a dream last night that a student was teaching my class. I am totally serious. I actually had this dream. The sad part is for many students this may not be a too far-fetched reality. This could very well happen.

The solution? How the hell would I know?

Venture Bros. and American Culture

2010-03-03T09:17:00.000-08:00

The funny thing about the Adult Swim show The Venture Bros. is how it does nothing but reflect on American culture. Yes it is well respected for its incredible humor and loony character development, but when it comes down to it, almost every single aspect of the show is a reference to American pop culture... whether that pop culture be contemporary or originating from the 60's. Besides the show being a blatant satire of the 60's cartoon Johnny Quest, there are far too many to talk about here so I will stick to some characters specifically.

Colonel Hunter Gathers: A secret agent who is always alert and always paranoid, never believing anything he sees. His appearance, mannerisms, military rank, actions and even his name and the way he speaks all lend his influence to the Journalism legend Hunter S. Thompson... he's also got a bit of Nick Fury (a popular secret agent from Marvel comics in the 60's).

Brock Samson: An agent and body guard (and Swedish-murder-machine) who observes more than he speaks and can kill you with your own finger. His appearance can be lent to dozens of actors and musicians, but his mannerisms, abilities and willpower he displays makes him the show's Race Bannon (from Johnny Quest) and perhaps even a contemporary Doc Savage (from the old Pulp Comics of the 30's). Note: Race Bannon, as well as the other Johnny Quest characters actually exist in the show as well.

Doctor Jonas Venture: The late grandfather of the Venture Bros. is a character who really defines the entire show and represents an old forgotten time (the 60's). The Venture family is a contemporary of the Johhny Quest family, whereas Jonas represents a mix of the 60's Quest family and maybe even a bit of the A-Team. Other than filling the role of the former Dr. Quest, Jonas Venture is, for all intents and purposes, Doc Savage, and perfectly fits into everything Doc Savage is ever depicted as.

I could keep going but honestly you could write a whole book on this subject.

The 1st Amendment and a little place called Skokie

2010-03-02T08:26:00.001-08:00

The First Amendment is one of our most interesting rights. Where does your right to free speech and expression begin and where does it end? In theory it is limitless, however the case of National Socialist Party of America v. The Village of Skokie, 432 U.S. 43 (1977) proved how head scratching this fundamental right truly is.

Long story short, the Nazi's wanted to march in Skokie Illinois and seeing as how a large portion of the suburb's population was comprised of Holocaust survivors there were problems, naturally. The Nazi's took the town to court claiming they were infringing upon their freedom of expression. Eventually it was ruled that the could march... just not in Skokie. This case proved how important it is to protect the First Amendment, even if it is protecting unpopular beliefs.

For further reading check out the book: When the Nazis Came to Skokie

Now here is a clip reflecting on the controversy in Skokie:

Constructive Criticism

2010-02-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

Criticism can be beneficial when done right. This is called Constructive Criticism and it is often practiced to help people see where they messed up so they can correct it in the future. Four ways to deliver helpful criticism:

1. Constructive criticism needs to be genuine. The person giving the criticism needs to understand its importance and deliver that to the person they are critiquing.

2. The person being critiqued has to understand that you are simply helping them and not simply saying they suck.

3. Don't speak in a demanding tone like, "You need to..." if the individual is defensive.

4. Work around it by saying things like, "You might want to..." which sets the stage for cooperation and makes the criticism more of a team effort.

Constructive Criticism is important in all aspects of life, but even more so in writing. Just remember to be thoughtful and don't say...

Source: http://www.peaceandhealing.com/criticism/constructive.asp

Enough With the MMO's!

2010-02-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

The MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role playing game... yeah a mouthful) has been becoming more and more common ever since the popular game World of Warcraft hit the market in 2004(popular meaning it has 11 million subscribers). Now, normally I would not condemn an entire genre, but when nearly every subsequent game in the genre just sees how much they can copy W0W while avoiding lawsuits I begin to get a bit worried.

It seems every big developer these days needs/wants an MMO of their own and often fall flat on their faces... you see the MMO is the most expensive and difficult genre to create a game in. Bioware recently hired 100 new employees and opened up a new studio to work on their new MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic... if that is not convincing enough this game and nearly every other noteworthy game in the genre has a development period of 5 years at the least. That's a lot of time and resources to commit to one release... a release that if you batch... you may go bankrupt.

What is sad is that this has in fact happened and continues to do so. Companies just can not rap their heads around original ideas and when one thing sells everyone freaks out and tries to ride the coat tails. In many cases this works... but seemingly not with MMO. So I ask the gaming industry, please stop pooping out MMO's every which-way. We don't care and we won't buy them. Spend your time and resources producing something good.

The Winter Olympics: Not Fun for Everyone

2010-02-20T13:32:00.000-08:00

So I believe it is safe to assume that everyone at this point has heard about the luge accident in which Nodar Kumaritashvili made an error that cost him his life. Now I really have nothing against dangerous sports. If you have gone through the proper training to do it "safely" and your crazy enough to show the world your stuff, then by all means do so. What bothers me however, is when those running the events lack the necessary forethought.

A metal pole literally inches from the track is was ultimately cost him his life. A METAL pole. You would think that while sliding down at 90 mph you would hope there wouldn't be any giant metal things inches from your face. After his death they padded up the poles to prevent similar injuries and death, but isn't it a bit too late.
Now I am not placing blame on any one party. Its a dangerous sport and Nodar knew this... but safety proofing the polls should have been so obvious. So what is the moral of the story? Don't be an idiot. When putting your life on the line for entertainment and thrill make sure you have taken every safety precaution available. That goes for those idiots that like to ride motorcycles without helmets too.

Red Cliff Review

2010-02-19T09:28:00.000-08:00

This movie does not hold the "top grossing movie in China ever" spot for nothing. John Woo's latest work is the textbook definition of a masterpiece and is the best war movie this writer has ever seen. Period.

Red Cliff is a film about the battle of Red Cliff, a very important conflict during the War of the Three Kingdoms, one of the most important eras in Chinese history. I will save the history lesson and get right down to the meat of the movie.

The international version (which I saw) consists of two installments adding up to about 4 1/2 hours of film. In most cases you would probably watch part1 and then watch part 2 later... I mean that is a lot of sofa dwelling to do all at once. Alas, this movie was just too damn good to delay. This movie did everything right. Even with an enormous cast of characters (all of whom are nonfictional) the film gave enough time and reason to grow attached to them all, even Cao Cao, the film's antagonist.

I could talk about the characterization, cinematography and all that nonsense all day if I wanted (take my word for it... it's good) but this is a war movie, and what do people want from a war movie? F**king war. As far as war films go, this has some of the most incredible choreography I have ever witnessed. Fight scenes are believable and extraordinarily clever for the first half and then suddenly over the top with one lone hero (or a pair) taking on entire units at a time. There was one battle that was so nuts we had to re watch it. On two different occasions a hero rams into a horse so hard it actually knocks it over and sends the rider flying. What don't believe me?

The violence is brutal but not gory. They do a lot of tricky camera work to avoid stupid amounts of gore because, lets be honest, 3rd century warfare was no picnic.

The best part? The best character in the film never even fights anyone. He's a tactical genius named Zhu-ge Liang and he makes carrying a fan almost manly.

As far as I understand the American version of the film condenses the two films into one, effectively cutting the length in half. If you have the oppertunity I strongly... STRONGLY urge everyone to get their hands on the international version.

Oh yeah almost forgot... what do I give the film? How about 10 turtles out of 10. (Oh yeah there is a badass tortoise in this movie... can't believe I did not mention this)

The Wolfman Review

2010-02-16T08:17:00.000-08:00

I saw The Wolfman on Friday and I came out with hodgepodge of emotions. It has incredible strengths and obvious pitfalls. I was not really disappointed however. As one of my favorite reviewers said, "You go to a Wolfman movie expecting to see a Wolfman doing Wolfman stuff." And in that regard it is a masterpiece. The action sequences were fast, gritty and ferocious. Sadly they were few and far between... and the London scene... so good... just wish it was five minutes longer.

The actors and director deserve some exceptional credit as their performances were convincing and engaging... I just wish the script was better. The movie suffered from sever pacing issues and started to fall apart in the last twenty minutes... the ending was terrible as well.

Considering the trouble this film went through before it was finally released around two years later than expected I have to say I enjoyed the experience and will probably rent it in a year or so.

If you have some cash to spend and you want to see a Wolfman doing Wolfman stuff go see this movie.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

America's Isolationist Media Policy

2010-02-16T07:59:00.000-08:00

It dawned on me yesterday that we as a culture are very isolated from the rest of the world. We worship Hollywood and really don't seem to accept anything else. The music genre is an acceptable causality as there is often times a language barrier and most people like understanding their favorite band's lyrics (unless your a Death Metal or Nirvana fan).

Movies can't use this excuse however. Movies have the ability to supply subtitles that magically translate foreign languages into English. Just because you can't understand the actors spoken words you can still judge their acting. Many countries have their own, some times enormous, film industries (China and India are huge players), yet they still watch our movies. In fact Titanic once held the top grossing movie spot in China until the historical action-epic Red Cliff usurped it.

I'm very curious about these movies now. The only foreign films I am really familiar with are some famous British films and some Asian martial-arts/action films. What are we missing? Why does it take so long for many of these films to become legally accessible to Americans? Why are the American versions always chopped up and nowhere near as good or complete as the International versions? Honestly I really hope this changes soon because I hate to have to watch a pirated copy of Red Cliff since the international version is impossible to find in stores.

Note: The international version is 4 1/2 hours long consisting of two films. The American version is cut down to two hours in one film... should explain my dilemma.

REAGAN SMASH!

2010-02-16T07:31:00.000-08:00

"Only by reducing the growth of government can we increase the growth of the economy." -Ronald Reagan

Reaganomics was a controversial economic strategy implemented by Ronald Reagan in the 1981 to, "increase saving and investment, increase economic growth, balance the budget, restore healthy financial markets, and reduce inflation and interest rates."

Four major policy objectives:

1. Reduce the growth of government spending
2. Reduce the marginal tax rates on income from both labor and capital
3. Reduce regulation
4. Reduce inflation by controlling the growth of the money supply

Notable things it did right:

- Unemployment rate declined from 7% to 5.4%
- Real GDP per working adult increased at a 1.8 percent rate
- The inflation rate declined from 10.4% to 4.2%
- Ultimately it was responsible for sharp reductions in marginal tax rates and in inflation

Bad things after Reaganomics:

- Privately held federal debt increased from 22.3%of GDP to 38.1&
- The failure to address the savings and loan problem early led to an additional debt of about $125 billion
- The share of U.S. imports subject to some form of trade restraint increased from 12% to 23%

Source: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc1/Reaganomics.html

The Fast Food Industry and Why I Hate It

2010-02-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

The existence of the fast food industry presents a double-edged sword to society. It offers a cheap and affordable source of food for those who don't have the means to afford quality meals everyday. Sadly however, fast food is absolutely horrible for your innards and many of their representatives facilitate mass consumption of food that won't kill you unless you eat it constantly. Pretty grim.

I like to think of myself as a realist... but don't get me wrong I am pretty optimistic, I just see things how they are, especially businesses. Fast food companies will cut costs wherever necessary and if it means sacrificing their costumers' health they will not give it a second thought.

Fast food exploits those who do not have the ability to eat healthier and even advertise to children by offering cheap plastic toys. Fast food marketing is very reminiscent of smoking ads actually.

Needless to say I believe fast food does more harm than good.

Not So Horrible

2010-02-11T12:19:00.001-08:00

Why the hell did Felecia Day have to die!? Now that I got that off my chest it’s time to get on to the actual review of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog. Movies such as these are hard to critique if you know anything about the production of web shows. Web shows often times have minuscule budgets (if at all) and leave the production with little to no resources. That said, this is a fantastic series considering what it is up against.

Everything from the writing, to the acting to the cinematography made me feel like I was watching a high budget prime-time comedy. I’m sure having Neil Patrick Harris, a relatively well known actor, helped their cause but I’m a huge Felecia Day fan (courtesy of “The Guild”) and her performance really reinforced many of the themes and moods being portrayed in the song.

What this film really has going for it is its combination of offbeat and downright bizarre style and its familiar and intimate feel (or mood). The blog scenes (similar to those featured at the beginning of every episode of the “Guild”) is a style see more and more in web shows these days, thanks in large part to this series, and it works quite well. It sets the tone for the beginning (if not the entire) episode and give the audience a little one-on-one time with the protagonist.

Good things aside I was kind of disappointed by the end (besides the thoroughbred at the end of the table). Not so much because Felecia died but because I really did not get the sense of character resolution. Maybe I just missed it… but it seemed as if Dr. Horrible was actually really happy in the end, which I wouldn’t have thought would be the case. I’ll probably have to watch it again.

Other than that though, it was funny and well done. And it’s got Felecia Day.

Xbox Live and Your Children's Virgin Ears

2010-02-09T08:03:00.000-08:00

Usually when people think of video game sociology they think of the "violence in video games" debate. Well I am tired of this debate so I will discuss something that too few parents know about. If your child is playing on Xbox Live (unless you disable chat and take away his mic) he is more than likely being exposed to extremely profane and derogatory subjects and words.

One of the main problems here, besides the idiots who play these games, is that parents have no clue that Rated M for Mature means your twelve year old should not play the game. With that dealt with anytime a game says, "Game Experience May Change Online" it means you will be hearing colorful language once you start playing with others.

How does this all relate to Sociology exactly? Well it has everything to do with childhood impressions and how exposure to online game communities are not only making children use more obscene language in their everyday life but often times perpetuates a child's superiority complex that is supported by an annoying nerd vocabulary chalk full of misspellings and general stupidity.

This smart man did a study playing Halo 2 (yeah kind of old) where he played 33.9 hours and recorded every instance of someone cursing or saying something offensive:

Moral of the story parents... don't be idiots. Pay attention to your children.

Note: This study is four years old. It is very, very likely these numbers would be much higher if the study was repeated today.

Source: http://www.imjosh.com/2006/02/08/frequency-of-profanity-in-halo-2/#more-244

The First Person Shooter Epidemic! OH NOEZ WEZ IN A RUT!

2010-02-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

Its no secret that the entertainment industry is at its core a business and will do whatever it is that makes them money. Often times this means recycling old ideas constantly or sticking with what works... which is why we get so many "fads" for lack of a better word. With movies and video games we see this happen with genres. Movie genres usually explode in popularity for a short time and die out after a few years whereas with video games... the effect is long lasting and stagnates the development of the entire industry.

The most notable instance of old would be the platforming explosion the late 80's and early 90's. Super Mario Bros. ignited a powder keg of imitators by defining a genre for the rest of video game history. Many of these subsequent games were brilliant like Sonic, Mega Man and Kirby.... while most others.... they fall into the abyss of game history obscurity.

This genre fad is still prominent today in the form of First Person Shooters. Doom, Golden Eye 007 and Perfect Dark were among the pioneers of the genre in the mid and late 90's acting as prophets for the on coming cancer that is the First Person Shooter.

Whether you place the blame in the onset of hits like Counter Strike or Halo, the genre picked up steam at the beginning of the millennium and has not let up ever since. The problem? We are ten years in and there still has not been a significant leap in the genre.

Improvements have been limited to better graphics, smoother game play, more guns and better multiplayer... the problem here is a lack of innovation. Aside from improved graphics (which all genres enjoy) it is hard to tell the difference between an FPS made in 2001 and an FPS made last week. Many of these games feel like the same game over and over and over again.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2007)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2009)

Another popular genre, the RPG, has stayed popular because its been so innovative over the last decade (western RPGs anyway). Developers like Bioware innovate the genre with each release and have are responsible for what IGN says is, "the most significant leap in the RPG genre of this decade" with their game Mass Effect.

So why do developers create the same games over and over again? Simple answer: to make a bunch of money because most gamers are idiotic sheep. For those of us with a brain... we get to save money every month.

Marijuana

2010-02-08T09:14:00.000-08:00

Marijuana is a funny thing in our society. In many ways it is no more dangerous than alcohol... at least from what I have read. Honestly I really don't have a very strong opinion on the topic seeing as how I don't partake, but I can see why so many people would want it legalized. Alcohol has just as much reason to to be illegalized and has been proven to have more long and short term negative effects on the user than marijuana, again, this is from what I have read over the years of being friends with stoners.

I really do not agree with the "gateway drug" theory mainly because the drug itself is nothing like those other extremely dangerous hard drugs and because the whole gateway aspect only comes into effect because of the crowd the person spends their time with. If you have a nerdy college buddy who smokes every once and awhile and asks you to do it, chances are, if you just smoke with that friend you'll never do anything else... unless your just natural curious in which case you would have already smoked pot anyway.

The most important reason I believe legalizing pot isn't out of the question is not because of the hypocrisy of smoking and drinking but because it would not only help the government (if it regulated it) but also cut down on drug related criminality substantially.

Like any recreational activity pot is prone to the same pitfalls... mainly addiction. People can get addicted to a lot of things: video games, porn, working out, etc. etc. Pot is not excluded from this, in fact it is one of the biggest offenders, but where this differs from alcohol is that alcoholism is a physical addiction where as pot is a mental addiction. Mental addictions are far easier to control.

Well I'm done talking about pot. Honestly I'm tired of hearing this debate entirely... college will do that to you :(

The Quality of Modern Gaming (SPOILER: Its Not So Great)

2010-02-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

I grew up during the big boom of the home consoles. Arcades were getting the ax and a flower peddle covered carpet was being laid out for the heavy hitters like Sega and Nintendo. This generation of games hold some of our finest memories of the medium... and some of our worst. It is no secret that terrible games have existed since the Atari 2600. It isn't a perfect entertainment medium of course and the industry is prone to fall victim to the same idiocy of poor film production. "Shovelware" is not a new thing, but it seems in recent years that is becoming more and more prevalent.

A large majority of the games put out annually are what I would call "shovelware". Not the traditional definition of the word: Shovelware is a derogatory computer jargon term that refers to software noted more for the quantity of what is included than for the quality or usefulness.

When I say shovelware I mean really crappy games. Crappy games are usually created due to:

A. The developers are not being given the funds or time necessary to complete the game
B. Sticking with what "works" rather than what's unique (FPS's have an enormous problem with this... but we'll get to that in another blog)
C. Gimmicks meant to sell the game (Poor Wii)
D. Idiots made the game (I.E. Sonicteam...)

These days the western market is dominated by the developer gobbling EA who has bought out an enormous number of Western game devs in the last decade... this is a very very bad thing for gamers. Like any giant corporation EA is out to make money... now I can't hate a business because it intends to do what businesses are meant to do... that would be preposterous. I dislike EA not because of they greedy ways and their terrible handling of developers they own but because of the inadvertent effect it has on the industry's climate.
When every developer is owned by the same company the games are going to start looking like the same thing... over and over and over again. They are a business lead by businessmen... they do what works. In this case it takes advantage of the naivety and stupidity of the average gamer and keeps the industry from innovating and developing the way it should.

Well now that A and B are more or less covered I'll go right on ahead and jump into C. The Nintendo Wii... its been said many times by those who would refer to themselves as "hardcore gamers" as a toy for children. This is not the case. Nintendo has a brilliant marketing strategy and if anything they are doing wonders for the industry by introducing new people to gaming with easy to understand and interactive games. I myself do play any of these because I am already a gamer but its existence is a good thing. Now by the same token this shouldn't give Nintendo or its developers the excuse to make crappy games that rely on shaking a motion sensor controller around like an idiot. This fun little device is not a crutch in which you can milk the stupid masses for their sweet money... this embarrasses everyone that owns the Wii.And as for D... well EA has been know to ax good developers due to under performance by their insane standards. This is a sad trend recently and it makes me wonder how on Earth developers like Sonicteam are still around who has been embarrassing themselves and Sega for over a decade with their awful games. Please guys... juts cut it out.

Anyway guess I'm done for now. I'll whine about the First person Shooter epidemic and my next entry.

Peace.

The Nunchaku and Georgia School Weapon Laws

2010-02-02T09:19:00.000-08:00

A nunchaku is a martial arts weapon consisting of two metal or wooden sticks connected by a chain or rope. Many people do not realize that this old silly little weapon is actually illegal in some states and in many parts of the world. Surprisingly the weapon is incredibly deadly even when it is not wielded by someone with professional proficiency and because of this is often times illegal even to own within your home. In Georgia however this is not the case.
It does however fall under a very detailed law that governs what cannot be brought on a school campus:

...any pistol, revolver, or any weapon designed or intended to propel a missile of any kind, or any dirk, bowie knife, switchblade knife, ballistic knife, any other knife having a blade of three or more inches, straight-edge razor, razor blade, spring stick, metal knuckles, blackjack, any bat, club, or other bludgeon-type weapon, or any flailing instrument consisting of two or more rigid parts connected in such a manner as to allow them to swing freely, which may be known as a nun chahka, nun chuck, nunchaku, shuriken, or fighting chain, or any disc, of whatever configuration, having at least two points or pointed blades which is designed to be thrown or propelled and which may be known as a throwing star or oriental dart, or any weapon of like kind, and any stun gun or taser (Code 1-33).

It also goes on to mention that the only instances in which all states allow weapons and firearms on school property are when individuals are authorized to do so; for example, school police officers may be armed and teachers having instructional purposes.

I'm really not sure if there has ever been a case of a child attacking another student with a nunchaku on a Georgia school campus before but I guess better safe then sorry.

Facebook and Twitter: Melting our brains

2010-02-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

Social networking sites were originally intended for people to get in touch with each other seamlessly on the internet to inform one another of plans, events, that they are in town, what have you. In recent years however, it appears these sites are no longer simply used to substitute a couple phone calls but have conquered all other forms of human communication entirely.

I use Facebook on occasion to check up on friends from home and see if I have been invited to any events. That's about it and that is about as far as it was originally intended to take. I know far too many people that spend all day clicking the refresh button in hopes that some one has responded to their mindless dribble. Just call the person up! Or better yet meet up in person like people used to do before we discovered the internet!

Don't even get me started on Twitter. I honestly don't care when you do your laundry or how hard you're going to fail your exam. Twitter just wastes bandwidth. In short, these social networking sites are good for something... people just don't know when to stop. I believe this clever flash movie sums up my argument quite well: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/498203

WARNING: Video has some dirty language in case anyone cares.

The Nine Steps and the Editorial

2010-01-28T11:32:00.000-08:00

I recently read an editorial about how recent trends in video game development are grievously wounding the industry: Going Gold: Reboots and Ripoffs

This article is highly informative and offers an expert's insight on a problem that is hindering the development and innovation of the video game industry. The author has an easy flowing style and a humorous, yet bleak voice that drives the story home (for me anyway). This is someone who doesn't simply know the past in which he references, but lived it and uses these examples flawlessly to support his argument.

His arguments were structured well and each instance gave a good balance of fact and opinion. He had appropriate word choice and never got too wordy or redundant. His writing was easy to follow and never wasted a moment to get from one point to the next (aside from the few instances of light-hearted humor).

It seems to follow the nine steps pretty well and the only thing I could think of to improve this article would be to include more examples to prove his points. I have plenty more that I could discuss through experience (I was a gamer since I was two).

It was a good read if you have any interest in the Video Game Industry.

I commented on his article under the username "Fappy".

Quotations and Attribution

2010-01-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

As Journalism students we have to know how to use and attribute quotes from various sources. First let us point out the difference between direct and indirect quotes. An indirect quotes uses one or some of the words of what the source said and some he did not. This is used to shorten or paraphrase what the source said while maintaining the meaning.

Direct quotes are an entirely different beast. These are great guidelines The Complete Editor outlines:

* Use the speaker's exact words
*Use direct quotes sparingly
*Use direct quotes to supplement and clarify the information presented in indirect quotes.

One common error is when a writer places the verb ahead of the speaker. Example:

"I ate a pie," said Janet.

Remember... subjects usually come before verbs.

"I ate a pie," Janet said.

Get it? Okay good.

Source:

The Complete Editor

First year of the 44th President

2010-01-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

Now I would not consider myself a political person, in fact my only source of news for quite some time was from John Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I do believe, however, that this is a free country and despite my lack of expertise my opinion still matters. I consider myself a moderate finding that I agree and disagree with many things both the Republican and Democratic parties believe in. That said I should have many reasons to like Obama and many reasons not to. This is sadly not the case.

When I think of what Obama has accomplished in his first year in office not much really comes to mind honestly. It seems as if he has put so much effort into getting this Healthcare Bill to pass he has completely lost sight of what the American people want. If its this hard to pass... maybe we are not ready for it. Now I can definitely see the legitimacy of both sides of the Health Care argument but at this point the government is just burning money and wasting valuable time.

When I think about Obama's first year I remember all of the various forms of media coverage. He reminds me of a movie star... a celebrity. Well of course the President of the United States is a celebrity right? Well it is a tad bit disconcerting when that is where I go first. We should think of him as a POLITICIAN, a LEADER and a PRESIDENT... but when he is constantly portrayed in anything from comic books to magazines as this cool dude that's "down" with the American people its hard to take him seriously.

Obama has admitted to losing sight of American's needs (wish I could find the quote) and I don't think I could have said it better myself. Focus on what we need. Focus on what we want. If you think we need public Heath Care and half the country says "no" then move on to the next thing. I could talk about other things like his indecisiveness when it came to the conflict in Afghanistan but I'll let that go as being a new guy... I mean after all he was only a Senator before he was elected... those guys have no governing experience to begin with.

Some people call him a communist. Some call him a socialist. I just think he's an idealist who doesn't understand that he can't force people to believe the same things he does. He's got three more years. Perhaps he will learn.

In retrospect his first year was worse than a Kennedy but not quite as bad as a Bush Jr.

Who cares...

2010-01-14T11:51:00.001-08:00

... who would win in a fantasy fist fight between Anne Frank and Lizzie Borden!

Lizzie Borden

VS

Anne Frank

I just made a blog

2010-01-14T11:31:00.000-08:00

I'll be using this for weekly assignments for Opinion Journalism and maybe some other stuff. Don't know yet.