WHALE-MAN!

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!

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.