Constructive Criticism

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

"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

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

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

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!

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

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)

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

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

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.