The Emu's Nest

On Dragon Age 2

2011-10-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

So, I finished it.

As a game, it's about average.
As a character study, it's fascinating.

It's about the same quality as Final Fantasy XIII, for the exact opposite reasons. (And to be fair, I'd rather run in a straight line but have different environments to look at while I'm running down that straight line than having a hub based system where you visit the same ten environments for thirty hours, mass grinding in Gran Pulse aside. And note: I don't have a problem with grinding--if it's in the game from the start. I have a problem with grinding if it suddenly makes you do so after thirty hours of play to continue on with the game.)

So, yeah. The game has its problems. The same environments. A shit ton of glitches. A lack of polish. BioWare, Mass Effect 3 had better be polished when you release it, seriously. (Seriously, I don't think it's possible to completely romance a character because of how glitch her sequence is--I could be wrong, though.)

But as a character study, the game itself is damn good.

And... that's pretty much it.

Average gameplay, below average polish, above average storyline, and exceptional character development/interaction.

Why "On Stranger Tides" Sucks (Spoilers)

2011-05-21T22:11:00.002-04:00

1. Ian McShane is way too underused. He has a magic ship. He has a magic sword. He's Blackbeard. And yet, the writers are too obsessed with Captain Jack to give Blackbeard a semblance of screen time. Develop him. Sure, we get that Blackbeard is supposed to be a bad guy. We get he's supposed to be evil. We don't need to be told he's a bad person. But that doesn't mean he needs to be two dimensional. He has a fucking magic sword. HE PUT THE BLACK PEARL INTO A FUCKING BOTTLE. Can we do something with that? You know, something interesting instead of Jack Sparrow acting like a drunken monkey?

2. There were no stakes. At all. In this movie. When Barbossa came back at the end of "Dead Man's Chest" and Jack came back halfway through "At World's End" you realize death is cheap, and there is no way at all you should care at all about the fate of the characters because they'll get out of any crap ever they could possibly be put into. It doesn't matter at all because you know everyone the writers care about (ie. Jack and Barbossa) will survive. So, basically, why bother?

3. This movie was not fun. The original trilogy was fun. Even though "Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End" had stupidly convoluted plots, they were fun to watch. The action scenes were entertaining. There was no grand scale. In trying to make it smaller, they made it suck. It could have been because the action scenes were boring. The escape from London scene was fun. For about five minutes I had hopes this would be a good movie. And I was wrong.

4. The characters are boring.

There are a few good (semi-redeeming) points:
1. The story is a bit more streamlined. (Still sucks.)
2. Hammy Geoffrey Rush (because for the 30 minutes Barbossa is in the movie, he's awesome).
3. Hammy Ian McShane.

That's... pretty much it.

Surviving Queries

2010-09-08T23:09:00.002-04:00

Since I'm trying to get my book published, agents/publishers like the author to have author-y blogs.

I'm far too lazy to make a new blog for that, so I'll be adding more author-y posts to this one.

This probably means the two people reading this blog will drop down to one. But whatever.

There are several ways to go about getting published, I've learned.

There are the vanity publishers and self-publishing routes, but those aren't my thing.

In order to get with a big publishing house, you have to go through all the mess of finding and agent and then having an agent find a publisher and then having a publisher do something else. But you probably know all of this. Or maybe you don't. I don't know.

Anyway, you'll probably get rejections. A whole lot of them. And if you get insanely lucky, know how lucky you are.

Don't let the rejections be personal, because they're not. Sure, it sucks to get them. But they come with the business. Just take them as they come, don't dwell on them too much, and send out more. And work on a new project.

This writer-y posting stuff is kinda hard, but hopefully it'll get better as I go along.

Song of the Month: September 2010

2010-09-08T21:50:00.000-04:00

Silversun Pickups :: Panic Switch

Song of the Month: August 2010

2010-08-12T18:41:00.002-04:00

Inception :: Time

Hans Zimmer

Something a bit different than usual.

Song of the Month: July 2010

2010-07-14T10:44:00.000-04:00

Dream Theater :: These Walls

Song of my life, FTW.

Review: ModNation Racers

2010-06-15T12:42:00.003-04:00

Yaaaaaay.

No, really. Yay.

First off. Picture Diddy Kong Racing. Then add LittleBigPlanet to it. You've just pictured ModNation Racers.

I can't really feel excited about this game, but that's partially because I played it so much and kind of wore myself out of it.

The good:
The tracks are fun and original.
There is a LOT of stuff to do.
There is a LOT of customization to do.

The bad:
The campaign seems a little short.
Some of the "challenges" are insanely frustrating.
If you play ranked online matches, expect only to see maybe... three or four maps.
No co-op.

So, that pretty much covers the single/multiplayer aspect. Now, let's get to the customization. But didn't you already talk about the customization? Yes, but that was in a single player aspect.

I feel like there's a little more stuff that can be done in LittleBigPlanet. Everything feels a little "easier". But on the other hand, LittleBigPlanet seems like you can get "more stuff", because you can fine tune everything and get something truly unique. There's only so much you can do with racetracks. Although, between my friend and I, we got some truly fun tracks made.

(If you read this, look up Green Grass & Low Tides and Skyrise.)

All and all, it's a fun game.

The problem is, I don't feel like playing it again. Or anymore. But that might be because I pretty much played it non-stop Wednesday through Saturday. Take that what you will.

Song of the Month: June, 2010

2010-06-07T23:20:00.002-04:00

Styx :: Come Sail Away

Not the Cartman version.

I'm sailing away
Set an open course for the Virgin Sea
'Cause I've got to be free
Free to face the life that's ahead of me

On board, I'm the captain
So climb aboard
We'll search for tomorrow on every shore
And I'll try, oh Lord, I'll try to carry on

I look to the sea
Reflections in the waves spark my memory
Some happy, some sad
I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had

We lived happily forever
So the story goes
But somehow we missed out on the pot of gold
But we'll try best that we can to carry on

A gathering of Angels appeared above my head
They sang to me this song of hope and this is what they said

They said, "Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me lads
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me baby
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me"

I thought that they were Angels, but to my surprise
We climbed aboard their starship, we headed for the skies

Singing, come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me lads
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me
Repeat, etc. al. fadeout.

As I go into the next round of queries for Winter Tides (formerly Serpents and Dragons/Serpents of the Dern), I post the theme song of the book. Please don't think down on it.

Review: Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

2010-06-05T11:55:00.002-04:00

Previously, on Prince of Persia:

The Prince goes after a magical dagger, only to discover it has the power to control time. But the evil Vizier wants to use it for his... evil... means and tricks The Prince into unleashing the evil power of the Sands of Time on an unwilling group of people, turning everyone into Sand Zombies.

He teams up with Hot Indian Chick (aka Farrah) to stop this.

The two of you run through a castle, killing Sand Zombies, the Prince progressively loses his shirt, while getting more and more powerful swords, until Farrah steals the dagger, which causes you to climb up a tower, fight more Sand Zombies, watch Farrah die...

... and then rewind time ALL THE WAY to the beginning of the game. (Sands of Time).

But, this meddling caused some unstoppable "course corrector" known as The Dahaka to hunt him down. The Prince goes emo and goes to an island. Hell, he goes through the island a grab total of FOUR TIMES in Warrior Within. (Prince: Present. Prince: Past. SandWraithPrince: Present. SandWraithPrince: Past.) You finally kill Kaileena and/or the Dahaka, depending on which ending you wanted.

Two Thrones:

The game starts off with the secret ending as the canonical one, which is basically the developers saying "Yes, we screwed up." And since the Sands of Time didn't exist, the Vizier is back to his old hijinks. Oh, and Babylon is being invaded. And the Prince is schizo.

And then you climb another tower, kill the Vizier, only to go back in time...

... to the beginning of the FIRST GAME.

Oh, and there was that weird Prince of Persia (2008).

So, the Forgotten Sands is effectively a reboot. And an interquel. And a sequel. At the same time. I hate time travel.

Anyway, the "feel" of the game is a little more Sands of Time/Two Thrones than Warrior Within. The Prince is back to his light-hearted, sarcastic nature from Sands rather than emo-brooding man. It feels like Ubisoft was trying to remake Sands of Time for the PS3. And they... kind of succeed. It's kind of sad. Some of the puzzles and levels are the same... or similar. While this isn't entirely bad, it gives a lot of sense of deja vu.

The new elemental powers are cool, which leads to some awesome platforming in the final level. They also finally got the combat right.

And, the final level itself is one of the coolest things I've ever seen/done.

The game itself is easy, though.

If you like the Sands of Time series, it's pretty much the same. With better graphics. And less Farrah. And less emo.

If you didn't, well. Yeah.

Final Fantasy XIII: Review

2010-05-19T20:45:00.003-04:00

Now that I've properly "beat" the game.

It should be said that this game can properly split up into several sections.

1. Chapters 1 and 2
2. Chapters 3 to 6
3. Chapters 7 to 10
4. Chapter 11
5. Chapters 12 and 13
6. Post-game

Section one is a much different game than the rest. This is before you get access to the Chrystarium. This is before you have access to all the cool stuff, and as such, feels more "traditional" to the Final Fantasy series. I wish this part would have been expanded/continued a little more, because there are a lot of things you get to do that you don't get to do earlier in the game. (For example, Grenades.) Because of this, it is probably one of my favorite parts in the game.

Section two is when you finally get the Chrystarium opened. The cool stuff you get to do at the beginning of the game (ie. Grenades and machine guns) are replaced by other cool stuff (like fireballs.) As much as I like the Chrystarium system, I kind of miss the grenades and machine guns.

Sections one and two are also part of the "superlinear" segment of the game, but I'll get into that later.

Section three is my favorite part of the game. The combat system gets complex, the bosses get decently challenging, you get the full party. There's even a classic "Final Fantasy Town" scene, however brief it is.

Section four (ie. Chapter 11) the opens up. You're dropped on a massive landscape. And a lot of monsters try to eat you. While you are stuck here for most of the game, it gets kind of tedious. But again, I'll get on that later.

Section five are the final dungeons, so, yeah. It's like section three, but harder and not as awesome.

Something new to the Final Fantasy series is the idea of a post-game. Usually, once you beat the (final) boss, you either reloaded your save before it or started a new game. But now, you can continue on afterwards, doing any missions you didn't finish and max your Chrystarium (ie. "grind").

The reason I like the middle part of the game so much is it's everything is dealt perfectly. It's the typical linearity of a Final Fantasy game. There are sidepaths with treasure chests, followed by the relatively straight path you have to walk down. Contrast this with the beginning of the game, where everything follows a straight line. Yes, a straight line. Or, contrast this with Chapter Eleven, where there's a massive sprawling plain with giant turtles trying to kill you.

This game follows the path of Final Fantasy X almost exactly, without the towns. Urban landscape. Long journey and plot development. Mid-game climax. Massive, wide plains area. Final areas of the game. Stupidly easy final boss.

However, except for the odd Chapter Eight, everything else in this game is an action game. It works much better if you compare it to something like Uncharted as opposed to another RPG, even though the plot is VERY RPG. Unlike Uncharted, you're suddenly stranded in a large, open environment.

My main problem with this game is Pulse. Which is weird, considering I'm sure a lot of other people like Pulse. The problem with Pulse is that all of the sidequests in the game are here. Meaning you're going to be seeing Pulse a lot. After a time, this gets boring, and it's why I don't like the post-game all that much, because it's pretty much grind turtles to kill the next superboss to get more trophies and/or achievements. Then, once you're fully powered up, you go kill the final boss again for a trophy and/or achievement.

Sidequests are fun. Sidequests in one area that are practically the same thing (go kill X monster) are NOT fun.

So, it's not really a bad game. In fact, it's a quite good game that people seem to hate. It just has a hard time finding its way sometimes. It's the strongest (and weakest) of the current-gen Final Fantasy games, but the problem seems to be is that it's too different than the "traditional" ones. (But so was FFXII.)

Pros:
Combat system (awesome)
Graphics/presentation (awesome)
Soundtrack (even though you hear the main theme a bit too much)

Cons:
Non-traditional Final Fantasy game, but this in itself is ironic, considering Final Fantasy is the RPG franchise that messes with things, and Dragon Quest is the more conservative one.
Superlinear (in parts)
Repetitive sidequests

So yeah. Pretty much the same thing everyone else has said.

I still recommend it though.

Song of the Month: May 2010

2010-05-15T20:35:00.000-04:00

Porcupine Tree :: Sentimental

You can't imagine how this matches how I feel.

Things I'm Older Than

2010-04-12T08:23:00.002-04:00

Since I'm 22, here is a list of things that are younger than me:

Videogames:
1. Pokemon
2. Doom
3. Nintendo Game Boy
4. Sonic the Hedgehog
5. SNES (it was released that early?)
6. Sega Genesis
7. Turbografx (US release only)
8. Atari Lynx
9. Game Gear

Music:
1. En Vogue
2. Marilyn Manson (band)
3. Hole
4. Damn Yankees
5. Aqua
6. Pavement

Technology:
1. THE INTERNET (public use)
2. MP3 files
3. Hubble Space Telescope
4. Confirmation of Black Holes

TV:
1. Law & Order
2. Twin Peaks

Famous people:
Don't care.

It Begins

2010-04-07T20:27:00.001-04:00

Today, I sent my ninth query out.

Several hours later, I received a response.

It was a rejection, a form rejection.

I don't remember being so happy for failure.

That still leaves eight queries out, though.

Games of the Decade: Four

2010-04-03T17:47:00.003-04:00

Rock Band 2
Hamronix (points if you get the joke): X360, PS3
Pi Studios: PS2, Wii
(2008)

This is the music game to beat. Yes, Guitar Hero, I remember you. You broke my heart when Guitar Hero World Tour came out, with your convoluted charting and your bright, flashy colors. Again, this is a game that fits into the "Greatly Improved Sequel" category. Rock Band was a great game, but it had to compete with Guitar Hero 3 (the last great Guitar Hero game). But then number 2 came out, and it did practically everything right.

By the time the second installment came out, it had I think about 500 songs for people to choose from. (Granted, 400 of those were via DLC. But none of that matters.)

If the other three games weren't so damn revolutionary and awesome, this would be number one on the list. But it's not.

(By the way, there is going to be an 11th post in this series: Honorable Mentions.)

Song of the Month: April, 2010

2010-04-01T00:33:00.001-04:00

Dishwalla :: Charlie Brown's Parents

I have no idea why, but this is a groovy song.

Games of the Decade: Five

2010-03-29T21:23:00.003-04:00

Halo 2.
Xbox.
Bungie, 2004.

Pretty much the most popular Live game for the original Xbox, and is still probably one of the more popular Live games around. So, pretty much, you get Halo and online play, and people come running. This falls into the "much improved sequel" category. Back when my friend had an XBox, this is one of the games we were constantly playing. In fact, it was pretty much the only game we played, but that was because it was the only co-op game he had on the Xbox.

Anyway. I've heard people suggesting that Halo: Reach is going to redefine the series again.

We'll see. I'm not really a 360 guy. People will buy the game regardless.

Granted, I'm not really an Xbox guy either, but Halo 2 was a fun game.

Up next: a jump into current gen (NOWAI!)

Song of the Month, March 2010

2010-03-21T23:11:00.000-04:00

Boston :: Higher Power

My favorite Boston song ever?

(The answer is yes.)

Let me love you
Take me home to your religion for the night
Let me touch you
Teach me how to see your vision through my eyes
Turn the pages
Tell my story, let me face another day
Safe embraces, I feel it comin' now
My captain's on his way.

Hey, my high power
The world is spinnin', but I'm not afraid
Yeah, give me the power It's the beginnin', the beginnin' of another day.

Yeah

Let me hold you
Take me back into the secrets of my mind
Let me know you
Come and save me Lord
Don't let me cross the line

Hey, my high power
The world is spinnin', but I'm not afraid
Yeah, give me the power It's the beginnin', the beginnin' of another day.

"God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Thy will,not mine,shall be done.
Amen."

Ooh, let me love you
Ooh, let me love you

Hey, my Higher Power
The world is spinnin', but I'm not afraid

Yea, my Higher Power
It's the beginning of another day.

Hey, my Higher Power
The world is spinnin', but I'm not afraid

Yeah, my Higher Power
It's the beginnin' of another day.

Hey, my high power
Hey, my high power
Hey, my high power

Someone Set Us Up The Bomb, Parts 2 and 3

2010-03-15T19:31:00.002-04:00

Well, I was hoping the conversation would be over by the time I got home. But no, it's still going on.

So here we go:

... their brains are so fucked up anyways, it's no use.

Not one fucking ounce of logic can penetrate the brain of a neo communist socialist.

Yes, you dumb mother fucker. You talk about atrocities, yet you refuse to recognize the genocidal acts that the Empire of Japan committed against the Chinese and Koreans. You refuse to acknowledge inhumane things they did to POWs.

To you, America, the country to which you owe your very freedom no less than THREE FUCKING TIMES in the last 100 years, is evil, no matter what we do.

You have no concept of history. You obviously have no concept of right and wrong, as you would trade over 5 million Japanese civilian lives for 100,000-plus.

You just want to hate America.

Well, to borrow from a couple of flapping-headed Canadians: FUCK YOU, BUDDY!

Is my brain as fucked up as yours?

Just like no amount of "logic" can penetrate the brain of a neo conservative fascist? (See what I did there?)

Atrocities are committed on both sides. The above poster wasn't suggesting that we were the sole responsibility for atrocities during WWII (which BY THE WAY happened 40 years ago.) And you know, we have Guantanamo.

No less than THREE FUCKING TIMES in the last 100 years huh?
Hold on. Let me count. That would put us at 1900.
So,
1. World War I. That was more of a collective effort.
2. World War II. Let's see. Russia. And England. And France. And Us. Yeah, a collective effort too. We won in the Pacific, but we had help there too (Australia, China. And you know, if we wouldn't have dropped the bomb Russia.)
3. The Korean War. Red Scare in full effect.
4. The Vietnam War. Clusterfuck, Part One.
5. Stuff in Serbia. Yeah.
6. Persian Gulf. Yeah.
7. "The War on Terror". Clusterfuck, Part Two.

As far as "protecting our freedom," I would only put 1 and 2 into that category. 7 is a maybe. If you know, it would have worked. So that's two.

You obviously have no concepts of history. History isn't made up of fucking right and wrong. Unless you're the winner (like us) and can declare everything you do right (like us) and everything everyone else does wrong (like us.) It's more political than anything.

Yes, because hating America is obviously the "cool" thing to do.

If by spending money on weapons you mean protecting ourselves and others, A resounding yes. Sweden? Wow, you guys really stepped it up in '42. When the rest of the world resisted Hitler, you guys played it safe. Way to go. And since you guys have been on the sidelines since 1814, I don't think you have the right to criticize. I know a number of Swedes and they are wonderful people. I will try not to change my attitude towards them becuase of your hatred toward everything American. Funny thing... if Russia or someone else came knocking on your door one day guess who would come to your rescue. Yep, us warmongering Americans. You see, we have a soft spot for people like you. You know, those that can't fend for themselves. Have we made mistakes. You bet! But, on the whole we strive to do the right thing. That is better than staying nuetral all the time. At least we take a stand.

At least most of the world <3s Sweden.

first off what is your point about obesity and who would ever want to kill people because of weight. WTF are you talking about. and by the way, I'm a physician (MD) so don't' go and try to convince me that weight is a gene issue-- it is ALMOST 100% PREVENTABLE IN EVERYONE. OK? NEARLY 100%. FRANKLY I THINK THAT THIS IS IRRELEVANT. AND THE DEAD EUROPEANS ARE A TRAGEDY AND THE US UNFORTUNATELY HAD A LIMITED POLICY TO GET INTO WW2 UNTIL 1941 BUT IT WAS CLEARLY INEVITABLE WE WOULD. But get your factrs straight. Except for Russia and Britain BARELY hanging a stallmate against Germany's airforce, there was NO invasion of Europe to free it of HItler's clutches until 2.5 years after US entered the war. Do yourself a favor, stop embarrassing yourself-- try looking at a map of Europe in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 (pre June) and Then post June 1944 and look at the BIG RED SWASTIKA THAT KINDA WAS DRAWN OVER MOST EVERYTHING-- YEAH, THAT SWASTIKA THAT'S DRAWN OVER EVERYTHING. THAT WAS GERMANY AT IT'S HEIGHT OF POWER IDIOT. ONLY THROUGH AMERICAN INTERVENTION AND ITS INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND SHEER NUMBER OF MEN OF FIGHTING AGE AND SMART LEADERSHIP DID THE JUNE INVASION OCCUR AND BETWEEN THAT AND THE RUSSIANS FINALLY GETTING AN ADVANTAGE, WERE THEY DEFEATED. OMG I FEEL LIKE I'M TALKING TO A CHILD. YOU ARE FROM SWEDEN SO G-D KNOWS WHAT IS WRITTEN IN YOUR TEXTBOOKS AND THAT MAY EXPLAIN YOUR STUPIDITY. OH BY THE WAY, BY GRANDMOTHER'S GOLD TEETH WERE RIPPED OUT OF HER MOUTH AT AUSCHWITZ, RIGHT BEFORE SHE WAS GASSED AND BURNED, THEN THE TEETH WERE MELTED DOWN AND THE GOLD SHIPPED TO A VAULT IN YOUR COUNTRY SOMEWHERE; IF YOU HAPPEN TO STUMBLE ACROSS THEM, I'D LIKE THEM BACK SO I CAN BURY THEM WITH HER BODY TO COMPLETE HER RELIGIOUS RIGHT TO A BODY INTACT AT BURIAL. YOU FUCKING IGNORAMUS.

Uuuuummm. Yeah, okay.
Yes, they couldn't have won without us, but we couldn't have won without them.
Also: The French Resistance. The Battle of Britain. STALINGRAD.

WHAT AS CHANGED YOU ASK?????? ARE YOU KIDDING? DO YOU NOT SEE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIGHTING AN ARMY OF A GOVERNMENT, WITH DEFINABLE LEADERSHIP THAT WEARS A UNIFORM, VS. RELIGIOUS FANATICS BENT ON A RELIGIOUS WAR AGAINST JUDEO-CHRISTIANITY AND THE WEST. R U KIDDING ME? FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, A NUKE RIGHT NOW HAS ZERO ROLE IN PAKISTAN (AN ALLY), IRAN OR AFGHANISTAN. THE EXCEPTION BEING IF IRAN GETS ONE AND THREATENS SAUDI ARABIA OR ISRAEL THEIR NUKE FACILITIES SHOULD BE CONVENTIOANLLY BOMBED TO THE GROUND AND THEIR COUNRY INVADED AT THOSE SITES AND THE COUNTRY SHOULD BE ATTACKED UNTIL THEY ARE NO LONGER A THREAT. THEY ARE A GRAVE THREAT. BUT RIGHT NOW, NO WAY. DUDE, SERIOUSLY, HOW OLD ARE YOU?

This is kind of the reason the rest of the world doesn't like us, mmm kay?

Did any of you right wing blowhards watch the first episode or are you just here to bitch and moan?

What he said. Personally, I started reading because my moron sense was tingling.

If anything they didn't bomb those fuckers enough.

Japan was responsible for upwards of 20 MILLION deaths from the mid 30's onwards, all with the approval of the Emperor who had the fanatical devotion of the Japanese people. China and Korea both paid the price of Japanese imperialism, not to mention the abuse, torture and murder of Allied POW's and civilians in occupied areas.
The capper is that even today there are apologists and deniers in Japan who try to play down and sweep under the carpet the full horror of the crimes committed against civilians and POW's in the name of the Emperor. At least the Germans are contrite.

Uh.... wow...

Just like we have people who try to deny all of the nasty stuff we do?

Waterboarding? No, that's not torture.

I think it does a bit of a disservice to mix it up with current political nonsense, though. This isn't a liberal/conservative thing; any halfway educated Democrat, and there are many, know the history and understand the reason for the bombs.
The kneejerk reaction against nukes isn't necessarily a left/right issue; it's just an issue of ignorance. Just like, say, creationism vs evolution isn't a left vs right issue, but an issue of ignorance and education.

I can't tell whose side you're on. :|

However, creationism v. evolution. Nice job there. That's a whole new can of beans. Please say no one picks up on it.

you wrote "Ever since the Blitz, the majority of US targets are civilian in nature. Learned all the right lessons from the Germans in that war." really??? and that is why we had intense bombing raids in the military infrastructure and shipping aspects of the enemy right? and developed smart bombs, etc.. since that are accurate down to meters. The concept of bombing civilian targets was part of our world back then after the fucking Germans began murdering millions by air, sea, and land indiscriminately like that. Nagasaki is defensible because Japan was SILENT after Hiroshima. also, blowing up a bomb in a remote area would not show the government or people there what was really at stake. In a world without CNN around to attack the US at every turn, only a minority of Japanese citizens even knew the bombings occurred. And sometimes, also, a sad truth is that when your country has just brutalized tens of millions of people all around you for about a decade and is SILENT on surrender after bomb #1, sometimes a little payback in your face is appropriate. It is not rah rah rah American pricks that think this. THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A COUNTRY ON EARTH THAT HAS ENGAGED IN WAR ON LARGE SCALES AND HAS HONORED BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS DURING WAR TIME AS CAREFULLY AS AMERICA HAS, HAS THERE! IF SO PLEASE POINT ONE OUT TO ME. again, WHICH PART OF EUROPE ARE YOU FROM? THE PART WE SAVED, OR THE PART WHOSE ASS WE KICKED ?"

Uh, yeah. Let me say this now:
I really, really fucking dislike you. You sir, are a complete and utter dumbass.
But let me not resort to name calling.

Other than Russia the ONLY country that lost more troops then the USA in Europe was Germany !!!!! And the US was not "neutral" we were supplying pilots and hardware to England. YOu really think we would have let Germany take over?? no. And russia woudl not have been able to defeat them on their own were it not for America. NO one said the war began in 1944 except you How can you deny that the D-day landings spelled teh end of the war for Germany. within months over a million troops were landed at 4 beaches: American X 2, England 1 beach and CAnada 1 beach. You owe i to them adn Russia for your freedom. your numbers are way off a total of maybe 25 millions soldiers died in entire war, including Axis and including Pacific theater how soon they forget, HUH/ ww1 was going nowhere without USA. after we entered the war was over in a year ww2-- we helped turn the tide and we were fighting a war on TWO fronts. Were YOU?????? were you fighting actively against Germany and Japan???? get a fucking clue.

Please stop talking. Your lack of grammar and manners is making my brain hurt. You've also been going on for so long I've fun out of witty comments, so instead I will immortalize you in the this blog showing how much of an asshole you are.

you have got to be kidding me? Europe cannot handle its own fucking backyard-- just look what happened during the "mini holocaust" just about 12 years ago with the Serbs etc... Europe did absolutely NOTHING while basically people were being exterminated yet again. Clinton got NATO going. Where were the European countries banding together to go after this Genocide. please.

Well, at least it's a step towards "Go, America!" As opposed to "GO, RIGHTWING NEOCONS YEAH!"

It was Russia and the Eastern Front that won WWII. D-Day as horrific as it was, is greatly over rated as the reason the war came to a close. By the time the Americans landed at Normandy, over 75% of the German army had been destroyed. The Wehrmacht was totally wiped out. There was no air cover at all on those beaches for German soldiers.
D-day was more of a diversion to allow Russia to push towards Berlin.
I am a former USMC, but I am also a student of history. And the way the Russian contribution - 20 million lives lost in Europe not including the 1 million they lost fighting the Japanese, is an almost criminal oversight.

What he said.

yeah, nukes go boom, make big damage ! so what? They deserved it, and more importantly it ended the war in days rather than years. FACT. Look NO ONE should hate the US for nuking Japan. period. They killed many people but a TINY percentage to what Japnese and German did for years. You think the Blitzkreig is any less inhumane? Literally the world was at stake and many millions of lives would have been lost even more.

Japan shouldn't hate us for nuking them? That makes a whole of sense. Or more specifically, people INVOLVED in the bombings shouldn't hate us?

Okay, I'm done. This guy disappeared after that. When he did, the argument continued but it got a whole more civil.

Someone Set Us Up The Bomb

2010-03-15T10:54:00.003-04:00

Haven't had one of these in awhile.

This one's coming from the AICN talkback for "The Pacific" regarding a few people going completely batshit over the atomic bomb. I don't have an account there, so I get to rage about it here. When history and modern day politics merge together...

shit happens.

As usual, things start off pretty tame.

And then it starts:

The citizens of Hiroshima and Nagazaki was just about ready to invade America. I mean dropping one at an unpopulated area as a show of force wouldnt have been enough. Only the charred corpses of civilians would convince the evil Japs to surrender. Keep repeating it and it might become true.

Uh... what?

of the hell on earth called WW2. Then, in the last minute they've dropped the ball (bomb). I'll still watch the Pacific, but it seems it'll be a ten part raitonale of slaughtering two cities worth of civilians in a show of force.

I get the feeling this is going to get nasty.

I'm sure everyone at AICN is butthurt that Matt Damon's "America, F*ck You!" movie GREEN ZONE has bombed, but it's getting really annoying to see the constant drumbeat of, "If you're stupid enough to want to serve your country, you need to watch this and Generation Kill so you know how stupid you are." The reason morons can call themselves Hercules and pontificate on the Internet about how much they hate "My Name Is Earl" is because brave men and women stand to keep them safe in their parents basements. The sheer contempt and ingratitude toward our soldiers is breathtaking.

Yup. The nasty happens.
1. I might want to see Green Zone now.
2. I don't see it as being stupid enough to serve your country. I see it as watching an "accurate" portrayal of modern warfare so you know exactly the kind of stuff you're getting into.
3. This mentality again. I can never, ever understand it.

Anyway, moving on.

IF you mean me as a pasty Canadian internet nerd, I'm a Hungarian. My family got purged once, during the Holocaust, then once again, during the Soviet occupation (after we rebelled in 56, thanks to the promise of American assistance, that never arrived). I know the kind of shit that happens in a war on your own soil, and I know about civilian casualities, and what they mean. It's beaten into us in our childhood. That's why the end of the war makes me sad. The US behave in an incredible way - you guys gave hope to everybody, over here. The world is not evil. Men are capable of great things, sacrificing a lot for the good of the world. You were shaping a buetiful future for the 2öth century. Then, as soon as the US had the capability to destroy thousands of civilian lives with one order, they gave into temptation immediatley. It's what any other nation would've done, in that situation. But that's just it: instead of being a paragon and setting an example, dropping those bombs meant becoming part of the problem, like any other country. That's a very sad, missed opportunity, for everybody. After that, it all went downhill.

It's a... thoughtful post what?
I'm always amazed of the views that come outside of the US.

If the U.S. hadnt dropped the two nukes people would still be pissed with the result. The firebombing campaign of Japanese cities was probably just as bad. They would have kept scorching the whole country with the B29's. Then follow that up with a bloody invasion if Japan still hadnt cried "uncle". The choice was brutal either way.

And this is why war sucks.

Would have racked up hundreds of thousands of Allied casualties, as the Japanese were preparing civilians(including kids and seniors) for hand-to-hand combat. We faced an enemy whose jingoism was wrapped in religiosity, and was unafraid of death. By dropping the atom bomb, we showed them an undeniable truth: futility. By showing the Japanese our ability to completely wipe them out without sustaining even one Allied casualty, they were left with but one option - surrender. Dropping those bombs saved countless lives on our side, and that's an undeniable fact. Could we have achieved this by dropping the bomb on an unpopulated area as a show of force, as one talkbacker suggested? Doubtful, since the Japanese initially didn't want to believe that the first bomb had done the damage it did, as some claimed that we had simply cut off Hiroshima's ability to communicate with the rest of Japan. What is also undeniable is that we changed the course of Japanese history for the better, turning a system bent on conquest and genocide (Nanking,) into one of the world's best citizens (whaling aside.)

Technically, this is just speculation too. We don't know for sure this is what would have happened.

I'm not going to comment most on the historical debates going back and forth. The "to bomb or not to bomb" argument is a dead horse at this point. It's history. Deal with it. Learn from it. Accept it. I'm just here to point out that things continue to devolve.

any hesitation on the part of Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan to drop an A-bomb on London, New York, or Los Angeles if the Axis would have developed the bomb first? The bomb was a game changer, and game ender. Period. If it had gone the other way, this talkback would not exist, or at the very least, be more Nazi and less nacho.

Considering our reactions during Pearl Harbor and 9/11, I VERY much doubt this is the case. I'm trying to avoid falling into an "America is awesome! Go America!" mindset here and strictly stick to a historical precedent. I'm not doubting the Nazis would have used it. I'm doubting it would have ended things on our side. The fact the Allies won (in Europe) was a completely different thing than the Pacific front.

All those "show of force" nukes you would have liked to see dropped would have just emboldened the Japanese. They would have painted us as gutless cowards and we would have had to drop one on a city anyway. Meanwhile, the radioactive fallout from all of your "show" nukes would have proven even more devastating, depending on the prevailing winds. I totally understand your revulsion at what the US did, but it had to be done.

To be fair, we would have behaved the same. See above point.

The US only had two bombs. There were no plans to keeping nuking them because we didn't have any more. Also, after the first was dropped we asked for an unconditional surrender and the Japenese refused. Maybe if your countrymen were at danger from the Japanese Empire you would understand. I know to you, the loss of a few hundred thousand US Marines is not much but in my opinion it was well worth it.

And now, the shit hits the fan.

You're right on the money. But why learn history (which isn't really taught anymore,) when you can be steeped in "Hate the US at all costs" ideology?

What. The. Fuck. Does. Arguing about the atomic bomb have to do over hating the US at all costs? Also, since I KNOW where this conversation is going, American public education sucked WAAAAAAAAY before Obama came into power. I actually blame Bush for this.

Was worse by far than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima? Why fixate your outrage on the latter? Because nuclear weapons are magically more evil than other weapons?

No, war sucks in general. The only thing you have to remember is that nukes can oh... destroy the planet. Go watch "On the Beach." Now. I'll wait. All war is hell. Weapons can destroy cities. Nukes can end life on the planet.

Now, someone flips out because... Well, they're flipping out for the same reason I'm flipping out. The only difference is that he's on the opposite side of the political spectrum.

How fucking stupid are you people??? Learning your revisionist history like the lefties and members of Obamanation want you to do. How fucking sad for our country that you people are allowed to live in it and spout off such lies and feel such righteousness in your belief in things that aren't even close to being true.

Okay,
1. Education sucked long before "Obamanation." (Is this a bad pun on the word "Abomination?") Again, look at Bush/No Child Left Behind/Math and Reading and standardized tests, for the win, science, history, health education, music, FUCK YOU!

2. The fact that it's history means that we don't know what would have happened if we WOULDN'T have dropped the bomb.

Someone tries to calm this fool down. He fails.

I just hate some of these fuckers who have no fucking clue what they're talking about, who didn't pay attention to half of the revisionist anti-American history they learn in high school to have an intelligent conversation about American history, and who then take the ignorant shit they do remember and use it to form a basis of hatred and ignorance about their own country and the brave men who fought and died to protect their rights to be lazy, selfish, hateful, ignorant mother fuckers.

Uh, let me stop you right there. I really dislike this guy. He's a superconservative version of me.
1. We still teach history in high school?
2. We are not perfect. See the overall idea of "War is hell."
3. Welcome to the internet.

To all you revisionists, just stop right now. OK? You have no facts to support your bullshit. Without dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan, and forcing the surrender, the Allies were planning to have to use about 5 million soldiers to invade the Japanese home islands, let alone free Korea and China. It was estimated that it would have taken over a year at least and a least 1 MILLION allied soldiers would have been killed or wounded and well over several million japanese civilians and military would have died. When it was done, there were MILLIONS of lives that were going to end because of it. And the post-war Japan was going to be 100X more difficult and expensive to help revive which we were obviously going to do and did because of the ensuing devastation to its infrastructure. These bombings forced Japan's hand. And we did it ONCE then said "surrender" they did NOT respond. We dropped a second and even after that they did NOT respond. Learn your history. We then sent a bombing run over Tokyo and even after THAT, they accepted surrender CONDITIONALLY, THAT THE EMPEROR REMAINS IN POWER. Can you imagine that? even after all that, a CONDITIONAL surrender ! Truman's government accepted. Yes many people died, but a tiny % of the total that would have for sure. What's a bigger WMD-- a small 1945 nuke or the bombing of Dresden? OR the rape of Nanking or the tens of MILLIONS Hitler's army killed. Nukes are scary because they are "easy"?? to use-- one bomber, one missile, one button, one psychopath with the will? But the two times it was used was only when the alternative was Millions of deaths and years more of war. That is 100% unrelated to the fears the world has today of smaller nations getting the bomb. Those of you who are SO convinced it was wrong probably could not be convinced of anything logical or factual. NOTHING. you are hateful people who hate America and what it stands for, are totally ignorant to the facts of the war, and hate hard decisions and have totally unrealistic views of the world and what the world was like at that time, and probably even now. Crawl back to your delusions of ignorance and please do not tarnish the memories of those who gave to much, often everything, so that you are even able to write the sickening bullshit you write here today.

Because we were going to INVADE THEIR COUNTRY. If someone invade US, we would react THE SAME FUCKING WAY. Now, can you stop arguing about the atomic bomb? There is also a reason most of us look highly to the veterans of that war. At least THAT war had some form of purpose. *coughAfghaniraqcough*

Fuck all of these socialist Obamanationites and their love of "global citizenship" and "world order" and their anti-American, blame-America shit.

These fuckers need to have Jay and Silent Bob beat the fuck out of them. Daily.

*headdesk*
So... peace is bad, right?
Again, welcome to the internet. The person you just talked to is from Canada. Or Poland. Or Japan. Or Germany. Or Britain. Or you get the fucking point. "Global citizenship" is a fucking necessity when I can talk to someone from another country on the other side of the fucking world.

I'm reserving the socialism rant for another blog post in the future.

... Michael Moore is a fat fucking sack of lying shit who uses slick editing techniques which invalidate his documentaries, turning them into hateful works of fiction.

He's going to burn in hell for what he did to Charlton Heston. A man who marched with Martin Luther King and was at the forefront of Civil Rights in Hollywood while the more liberal and "correct" thinking in that fucking town couldn't be bothered.

I would insert a conservative documentary filmmaker here, but I can't think of one. Michael Moore is a member of the NRA. That's... all I have to say to that. Also, I have to like Moore's movies. Moving on.

Socialist? Keep buying your own marketing. That's what you tell yourself to avoid facing the fact that Obama helped save capitalism. And what thanks does he get? A bunch of Wall Street Morons who would rather start tea
parties and complain about their taxes than face the facts that they fucked up.
Yes, that's right. The same Wall Street folks who forgot the fundamentals of supply and demand. Remember "Rick Santelli and the Rant of the Year? CNBC hack, with his bond trader buddies cheering him on about their genius plan to let more people default on their mortgages, so even more assets could be feared toxic.
I don't blame America for the problems that happened out there. But do you think America doesn't do anything wrong? Americans and America make mistakes. Now we can bullshit ourselves about this, or we can have the pride in this country to believe that we can and should do better.
I believe the atomic bombs were the right decision, but they were also a horrible decision. In the course of history, it may be a decision we come to regret, because of what Nuclear Weapons have come to mean.
I've had to confront folks like you for quite some time in political arguments on the Iraq War, and the fucking out of control partisanship on the subject always pisses me off. You're so damn worried about liberalism that folks like you let the Bush Adminstration run the war like a bunch of remedial class second-graders. It's easy to flex your muscles like a hawk and tell people they're pussies for not supporting the policies you like. Trouble is, there's a difference between talking tough, and actually fighting a war effectively.

Does this mean my job is done?

... suck a cock mother fucker.

Don't lump me in with the people who let Bush do what he did.

I'm talking about the ignorant, revisionist history being taught in schools across this country for the last 20-years by the politically correct socialst fuckers LIKE Obamanation. But here you go having to bring other shit into it, when I was talking about the revisionist history mother fuckers and the fact that they don't know dick about what they're saying. Stay on topic mother fucker.

And BTW... Obamanation didn't save capitalism. He's got it in a sleeper hold, ready to pile drive everything this country stands for into oblivion the first chance he has. He's no better than Bush was. They're BOTH bad for America. Two sides of the same coin; just a different kind of arrogant asshole is all.

Fuck.
So... you're NOT an arrogant asshole?
Again, Bush screwed over the education system. More than it had already been screwed up before. Do you know how many standardized tests I had in school?

Do you who I'm blaming for that?

I don't know what's more scary the fact that you nuked two cities or the fact that you are unequivocally supporting the act and even praising it. I had no idea nuclear weapons was such a tool for democracy. Hell you apparently saved the Japanese people and their future by nuking them. They should be THANKING you. I also had no idea that nuclear weapons were more humane than conventional weapons. Damn my socialist education. All this time i thought that with normal bombs you get some kind of warning and stand a reasonable chance of survival in a basement or shelter and don't have to suffer years of nuclear fallout or face instant incineration. You guys go totally ape shit when this gets brought up, falling back on the "you uneducated fuck" "ignorant communist hick" "learn high school" "read books" blablabla. You piece of shit. Don't even open your fucking mouth about an education when you so obviously lack one and have never been taught the value of critical thinking. You fucking robots. You are a living caricature of a brainwashed american living in denial. Why don't you deploy some fucking bio weapons in a-stan? I'm sure that would save a lot of NATO lives. Just sprinkle the whole Helmand province with the stuff and your troubles there will be over shortly. You are actually SAVING the women and children there (even though a couple of hundred thousands will die) The survivors will thank you later. I'm impressed by the way you guy utilized Wikipedia though in lieu of actually knowing what the fuck you are talking about.

It's certainly not this guy.

... AGAIN, you ignorant fuck...

dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saves ONE MILLION American lives.

It also saved AT LEAST FIVE MILLION Japanese lives, the vast majority of which are the SAME fucking civilians you pretend you care about.

So what is it you stupid mother fucker? The hundred-thousand-plus who died in the bombings? Or the MILLIONS who would have died in the largest invasion in recorded history?

Or are you so fucking stupid that you can't even do BASIC ARITHMETIC???

As much as I want to blame this guy, I can't.
Two plus two is five.

who ever said a nuclear weapon is a tool of democracy? I sure didn't. but 6 decades ago it was a tool to end Japanese Totalitarian aggression and to save millions of lives. that somehow you can equate the events of WW2 with anything going on in the middle or near east is astonishing. The only thing they have in common is bullets and soldiers. And we had the ability to use a third bomb and we did NOT. We did a bombing run over tokyo next. Actually any educated Japanese knows that by ending the war in days at a cost of < 200,000 lives makes much more sense than the 3-4 Million lives that would have been lost, not to mention billions in infrastructre lost with a full-on invasion of Japan. Tell me Admiral Tradeskilz, how exactly would you have ended the war. OH and by the way, before you point fingers at America, point it first at Japan and Germany who Violated every possible act or law protecting civilians during war imaginable, not to mention deliberately murdering and mutilating POWs by the ship load. America, Britain, France, Russia, Canada, Australia, and others SAVED the world from literal destruction and the abyss. Wake the fuck up or put out some facts so we can laugh and tear them to pieces.

Tell me, my friend, to whom do you owe your freedom today, to Communist Russia?? to bulgaria, Norway, Italy, Vietnam, Algeria...... NO my friend, the reason you can even write the putrid waste of RAM you produce is because of America. You must really be a food to the nth power. The bumper stickers I saw recently said it best: " WHICH PART OF EUROPE ARE YOU FROM? THE PART WE SAVED, OR THE PART WHOSE ASS WE KICKED ?"

Congratulations for failing. Second paragraph. First line.

To Communist Russia. Yes, actually. Stalingrad.
You're welcome.

Part two to come later.

Greatest Games of the Decade: Six

2010-03-09T12:25:00.003-05:00

Final Fantasy X
Squaresoft, 2001
PS2

Has it really been that long?
For the graphics on this sucker, I can't believe it's been nearly 10 years since it was released. This was one of the first killer exclusives for the PS2, and still happens to be one of the best RPGs of the decade, and probably the best Final Fantasy for the PS2.

(People tend to forget about X-2, but it really wasn't a bad game. XII was an exceptional game, it was just nowhere near the jump in quality from IX to X.)

I should note that all the games I've put on this list so far are perfect/nearly perfect games.

Top 10 Games of the Decade: Seven

2010-03-02T18:59:00.002-05:00

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Bioware, 2003

This is one of the reasons why I borrowed an original XBox from my friend for about a month or two. (He got to borrow my PS2). I wanted to play this game here. And I got to.

What a game it is. This, along with the Halo series, were probably the Xbox's defining games... although you could play them on the PC as well. With a just as good sequel and an MMO coming out soon, KOTOR is pretty much the best Star Wars thing since the original trilogy.

Countdown: Final Fantasy XIII

2010-03-01T20:05:00.000-05:00

7 days. I'm officially getting nothing done over Spring Break

Top 10 Games of the Decade, Number 8

2010-02-23T19:46:00.003-05:00

These are getting harder and harder to figure out. Well, 9-6 are going to be particularly hard. In 99% of cases, I don't really care about order all that much. Sure, I have the top 3 already picked out. Everything else in the list is kind of uh... fluid.

So, Number Eight:

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (2002/2003).

First and only Gamecube Zelda game. But it's probably the most unique of the long series, with cel shaded graphics, and a completely different feel from any game before and after it (Majora's Mask and a few Game Boy era installments). The Wind Waker continuity has officially become the continuity of the DS installments, with Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks.

Stop complaining about the game, 1 other person who reads this. Accept that it is a gorgeous game. Accept that it is an amazing game.

Song of the Month, February 2010

2010-02-23T19:40:00.000-05:00

Note to Self

2010-02-14T20:31:00.001-05:00

Stop ignoring possible internship opportunities GSU sends you.

In fact, send some of them emails.

That is all.

Song of the Month, January 2010

2010-01-31T22:58:00.003-05:00

Buckethead :: Padamasana

The most beautiful song ever written.

Prove me wrong.

I can wait.

The Top Ten Games of the Decade: Nine

2010-01-31T22:37:00.002-05:00

The Orange Box. Valve. 2007

Why?

Well, let's see.

Half-Life Two. And it's expansions.

Portal, which gave birth to over 9000 internet memes.

Team Fortress 2, which is an addictive shooter.

So, basically, what we have here is about three games combined into one game. Sure, they're all first person shooters, but who cares?

Top 10 Games of the Decade

2009-12-13T09:26:00.004-05:00

10. Pokemon Gold/Silver (1999/2000)

I know what you guys are thinking:

lolwut?

But, let's be honest here. It was the sequel to some very, very popular games (understatement) for the Nintendo Gameboy, and it improved on these games in each and every way possible. Two new types, 100 new Pokemans to abu.. er, "train." Not to mention the fact that you get all 8 badges from the new land, and you can go back to the lands of the first game and get the original 8 badges. And there was still more to do afterward.

By far, the best games in the series, and one of the best handheld games. Ever. The later games in the series have added nowhere near the amount of features Gold/Silver added to the franchise.

Song of the Month: November 2009

2009-11-01T17:30:00.002-05:00

A depressing song to represent how depressed I am.

Song of the Month, October 2009

2009-10-20T22:24:00.001-04:00

Obamacare and the Death of America

2009-09-22T19:25:00.004-04:00

Warning, language- and rage-filled blogpost ahead:

This is fucking bullshit.

Glenn Beck: GET OFF MY TELEVISION! GET! OFF! MY! TELEVISION! YOU! LITTLE! PIIIIINHEEEEEAAAAAAAD!

Sean Hannity: Shut the fuck up.

Fox News: Stop the blatant, fucking lies.

Barack Obama: Grow some fucking balls.

The Democrats: Play it dirty, like the Republicans are. You're going to have to fight for this, and you're going to have to resort to their lower tactics to get it done. So fearmonger. Do whatever you fucking can to get them to shut up. Play dirty, if you have to, because it's what they're doing. And they're kicking your asses. Be fucking merciless. Scream "LIAR." Do whatever it fucking takes.

That is all.

This is Madness

2009-09-06T08:35:00.002-04:00

This... is... Washington... !

And President Obama is getting ready to be kicked into the proverbial pit. Because the current political situation in this country really is madness. It really is ridiculous, madness.

Why are people so ready to see him fail? Is it because they're pretentious, greedy, fascist, power-hungry bastards who won't stop until the Democratic party doesn't exist anymore and they can do whatever the hell they want?

Is it because they're racist bastards?

Is it because they're scared shitless of "socialism?"

I can't figure it out. Nothing makes any sense. Nothing makes any sense.

And really, it scares me. We're getting armed, powerful nuts running around. And I'm the one who's scared shitless. But not of Obama. Of what comes next.

Lost: Season Six

2009-09-05T21:25:00.001-04:00

So, I'm in a very tough situation right now. I love me some spoilers. I love knowing the season premier is named LA X.

But, it's also the final season.

The spoilers are all going to be major ones.

Song of the Month, September 2009

2009-09-02T19:02:00.001-04:00

Muse :: The Resistance :: Uprising

Lyrics:

The paranoia is in bloom, the PR
Transmissions will resume
They'll try to push drugs
Keep us all dumbed down and hope that
We will never see the truth around

Another promise, another scene, another
A package not to keep us trapped in greed
With all the green belts wrapped around our minds
And endless red tape to keep the truth confined

They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious

Interchanging mind control
Come let the revolution take it's toll if you could
Flick the switch and open your third eye, you'd see that
We should never be afraid to die

Rise up and take the power back, it's time that
The fat cats had a heart attack, you know that
Their time is coming to an end
We have to unify and watch our flag ascend

They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious

They will not force us
They will stop degrading us
They will not control us
We will be victorious

Nothing To Say

2009-08-31T21:04:00.001-04:00

I really have nothing to say.
Why am I posting?

I don't know. Good question. Perhaps someone can tell me.

Song of the Month, August 2009

2009-08-25T22:48:00.001-04:00

Transatlantic :: We All Need Some Light

I may or may have posted this one before. But I don't care.

Some people think
Think they have none
They might as well stay down
Running in circles
Like bulls in a ring
'Til the sword finds it's way down

While the creep beats the rap on appeal
And the cop who can't stop
Shows the kids how to steal

[CHORUS]
And we all need some light now
We all need some light now
Yes, we all need some light now
Turn on your light
And wash the darkness away

Hey you on the brink
Waiting to fall
To become human surplus
The movie's still shooting
You might still get the roll
And man it's all just a circus

But the clown left town long ago
Maybe he'll come back and give us a show

[CHORUS]
And we all need some light now
We all need some light now
Yes, we all need some light now
Turn on your light and wash the darkness away

[SOLO]

[CHORUS to end]

Guitars I Want

2009-07-22T19:29:00.002-04:00

Fender Jaguar. This is the one I want the most. I don't know why. But I do.

Dan Armstrong Ampeg plexiglass guitar. Note, it doesn't have to be Dan Armstrong. But it needs to be transparent. It looks damn sexy. Maybe with a whammy bar and some custom stuff.

Les Paul Goddess. Dead sexy.

Hooray

2009-07-21T19:48:00.001-04:00

For ignored blog.

Stupid Things

2009-04-25T09:33:00.002-04:00

Signs

1. No drugs or nuclear weapons allowed inside. (Hard Rock Cafe, Atlanta)
2. MEN ONLY!!frownyface (Drawn in the dust on the back of a big truck)
3. Are you following Jesus this closely? (on the back of a sedan. And not stupid. Completely hilarious.)

Song of the Month, April 2009 (And Some Other Nonsense)

2009-04-09T22:10:00.003-04:00

Pain of Salvation :: Undertow

Let me go
Let me go
Let me seek the answers that I need to know
Let me find a way
Let me walk away
Through the Undertow
Please let me go

Let me fly
Let me fly
Let me rise against that blood-red velvet sky
Let me chase it all
Break my wings and fall
Probably survive
So let me fly
Let me fly...

Let me run
Let me run
Let me ride the crest of chance into the sun
You were always there
But you may lose me here
Now love me if you dare
And let me run

I'm alive and I am true to my heart now -
I am I, but why must truth always make me die?

Let me break!
Let me bleed!
Let me tear myself apart I need to breathe!
Let me lose my way!
Let me walk astray!
Maybe to proceed...
Just let me bleed!

Let me drain!
Let me die!
Let me break the things I love I need to cry!
Let me burn it all!
Let me take my fall
Through the cleansing fire!
Now let me die!
Let me die...

Let me out
Let me fade into that pitch black velvet night

Yes, I know. Same band twice in a row. Meh.

I'm only posting it because it's the new official theme song of Dragons. So I felt the need to share. The lyrics fit so well for a certain character.

On another completely unrelated note: In about a month I'll be in Italy. In three days I'll be 21.

Huzzah.

Song of the Month, March 2009

2009-03-07T14:26:00.001-05:00

Pain of Salvation :: America

This band kicks ass.

Watchmen

2009-03-06T21:05:00.004-05:00

The first paragraph or so of this "review" isn't about the movie, but how much of an asshole my friend's been over the past few days.

LAST NIGHT:
My friend is being an ass about the ride situation. Sure, you are the only person who currently has a car. I'll give you that. But that doesn't mean you make the rules.

TODAY:
Since I had to hang out at his house since 8:00 in the freaking morning because someone was too lazy to drive and pick me up, things were already tense from the get-go. So, we pick up Friend Number 2. We get to the movie theater. And guess what? Friend Number 1 made a supposed deal with Friend Number 2 to trade 10 dollars (aka a movie ticket) for a "free" movie ticket that can't be used to see Watchmen. Friend Number 2 misunderstands, doesn't have enough money, and Friend Number 1 threatens to leave (stranding us at the ****ing mall), because he doesn't want to *gasp* pay for a ****ing movie ticket. Well, neither do we. We don't have jobs. You do. Your dad is rich. ****ing deal with it.

Being the nice guy I am, I decide to settle the supposed money I owe him by saying "Look, fine, I'll pay for it." And then we get back to his place, and he refuses to drop us off somewhere because it's out of the way. We paid for your ****ing movie ticket (well, I did. The LEAST you could do is drop us off.)

Anyway, onto the actual "review":

The trailers were cool. Star Trek looks awesome. Public Enemies looks good. Terminator Salvation looks stupid. KN0W1NG looks stupid. That Seth Rogen movie looks stupid.

Now, yes, Dr. Manhattan has a blue penis. So what. You don't notice it. It's not something you should be paying attention to anyway.

And, yes, the ending was changed. Rorshach was spot on.

However, it's a little hard to write an actual review of it, because it's a lot to take in. So um... go see it?

Random Thoughts 2

2009-02-11T19:16:00.002-05:00

1. I might be making a trip to Perugia in June. Maybe. Possibly.

2. [insert something here]

3. Some people scare me.

4. I think I'd be the kind of person that would scare me.

5. I've had nothing to rant about lately. This saddens me.

Random Thoughts

2009-02-05T18:16:00.002-05:00

1. I remembered why I hate lending people pencils on test days. I finish the test so quickly and then I never get my pencil back.

2. Two Bone Saws attached to a Woolly Thoctar should win you a game. Until they Celestial Purge it and laugh in your face.

3. I always feel depressed walking out of my Ancient Mediterranean History class.

4. I can't spell Mediterranean without the help of spell check.

5. Why is Heroes starting to suck? I mean, Volume Three of Heroes was worse than Season Three of Lost. That sort of thing isn't supposed to be humanly possible. Stranger In a Strange Land is the maximum suck a TV show should have.

6. Actually, no television show should be allowed to suck as hard as Stranger In a Strange Land.

7. Why is American Idol still on?

Song of the Month, February 2009

2009-02-03T18:17:00.001-05:00

Song of the Month, January 2009

2009-01-18T11:31:00.001-05:00

On the eve of the inauguration of Barack Obama, I give you all this:

repress and restrain
steal the pressure and the pain
wash the blood off your hands
this time she won't understand

change in the air
and they'll hide everywhere
no one knows who's in control

you're working so hard
and never in charge
your death creates success
rebuild and supress

change in the air
and they'll hide everywhere
no one knows who's in control

change in the air
and they'll hide everywhere
no one knows who's in control

Favorte Things of 2008

2009-01-18T10:57:00.004-05:00

Hooray. A mouthful.

Top 10 movies:

1. The Dark Knight.
I love this movie. If you haven't seen it, go see it now. Heath Ledger won an award for it, so it has to be good... right? Which reminds me, I wonder how Downey Jr., Cruise, and Hoffman felt at the Golden Globes about going up against Ledger.

2. The Bank Job.
Hooray for heist movies.

3. Iron Man.
I. Am. Iron. Man. *guitar riff*

4. Cloverfield.

5. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.

6. Wanted.

7. Be Kind, Rewind.

8. Get Smart.

9. Quantum of Solace.

10. Indy 4.
Mainly because stopping at nine was such a random spot, and I couldn't think of anything else to go here.

Top uh... TV shows? That sounds like a good one. Too bad I didn't watch much TV.

1. Lost, Season Four.
Best season of the show so far.

2. Leverage.
I love this show.
"Did you kill a guy with an appetizer?"
"Uh... maybe?"

3. Fringe.
It's like a new X-Files. Whee.

Yeah, I'm gonna stop at 3. I didn't watch Battlestar Galactica and Heroes is going downhill.

Favorite Events:
1. The election of Barack Obama. WHEEE.

2. Going to see Cloverfield with someone. You know who.

3. The Shards of Alara Prerelease.

4. I had things picked out for these spots and I forgot what they were. WHEEE.

5. So here's a joke one: The Large Hadron Collider not killing everyone.

I'm not gonna bother with music, because I didn't really buy any new albums all last year, nor did I pay attention that hard. Most of the bands I care about in 2008 released sub-par albums. If I had to pick some random musical items to put in a list, they would be Viva La Vida, Chinese Democracy, and uh... In Rainbows. Which came out in 2007, but I don't give a damn.

UGO, You're Dead To Me

2009-01-07T20:29:00.002-05:00

I'm borrowing a page from Stephen Colbert today. I'm putting something on an imaginary "Dead to Me" board. That something is UGO. Why?

Because they killed EGM.

As much as I hate Activision for messing up Guitar Hero, or Republicans, or ignorance, or hypocrisy, I hate nothing as much right now than I do with UGO. Way to kill a perfectly good magazine. Way to go, asshats.

Screw you, UGO.

Chinese Democracy

2008-12-08T11:54:00.001-05:00

Isn't a bad album.

That is all.

Song of the Month, December 2008

2008-12-01T10:28:00.001-05:00

Muse :: Feeling Good

No Christmas songs. Mwaha.

Just kidding:

Woohoo Neglection (Random Thoughts)

2008-11-08T20:56:00.003-05:00

I've been neglecting this blog. But it's okay. This blog doesn't care about me either.

Each time I get off the bus on Monday and Wednesday a streetside "preacher" rants to the passersby on their need to accept Jesus. Yeah, okay buddy. Some days I feel like arguing with the man. Some days I feel like punching him. Other days I feel like doing both. If the idea of one should believe in Jesus to get into heaven, doesn't that make them selfish?

I hate registering for classes, because each time I do it reminds me I don't know what I want to do with my life, and I can hear the future laughing at me. Everything I want to do doesn't need a degree, so I don't want to spend 10 grand going to school unless it's going to be for something that's going to get me money. This semester is almost done. I'm still an English major. What am I doing?

I'm glad Barack Obama won.

I need a job.

Channel 73

2008-10-18T13:33:00.002-04:00

I just realized:
Barack Obama has so much money he has his own TV station. This is insane. Like, really insane. I'm still voting for him. But this is insane.

So

2008-09-09T18:55:00.003-04:00

They're launching the Large Hadron Collider (LHC tomorrow). In case we all die, I'm leaving with world with this song in Doctor Strangelove fashion.

And you thought I was going to spill the beans on some deep, dark secrets of mine, weren't you?
Ha. Fail. I take those with me to the grave.

And in case we live, I leave you with this:

You just got Rick Roll'd by the Chocolate Rain guy. Bitches.

Oh, Poor Little Ignored Blog

2008-08-31T18:12:00.002-04:00

No one cares about you.
It's okay. I still love you. I have school going on now, and as such, not enough time to caress your uh... well-being with well-thought out words. Also, I haven't had much to write about. Nothing has made me angry enough to rant about. Nothing special has happened to warrant writing about, although I did go see The Dark Knight. And quite truthfully, I got tired of searching for a song every week to put up here. So from now on, I think I'm going to do "Songs of the Month."

In the meantime, check out this totally awesome picture:

Grammar fail.

Song of the Week: Sunday, August 10, 2008

2008-08-10T15:56:00.001-04:00

Foo Fighters :: Times Like These

School. Work. Not a good week coming up. :/

Song of the Week: Tuesday, July 22 2008

2008-07-22T22:00:00.001-04:00

Faith No More :: Evidence

The Dark Knight

2008-07-20T09:22:00.003-04:00

It took a long, long time for this movie to sink in. A really, really long time. I absolutely love this movie. I think it's safe to say the rest of the audience in the theater with me loved this movie too. There were gasps and jumps when stuff happened. I can't really say enough good things about this movie, so instead I'll just say go see it now.

And on a completely different note, the bookstore hired me. Off to work I go on Monday.

Song of the Week, July 15, 2008

2008-07-15T19:04:00.003-04:00

I've had absolutely nothing to blog about this month. I'm just angry at a lot of stuff. Can't remember if I've posted this one or not.

Muse :: Assassin

Lyrics like these make me happy.

Song of the Week, July 8, 2008

2008-07-08T18:06:00.001-04:00

Another Dream Theater song. But only cause it's been announced for Rock Band 2. THIS MAKES ME HAPPY!

Dream Theater :: Panic Attack

Also, I have a job interview next week.

Politically Based Rant. Fun. Fun. Fun.

2008-07-05T08:41:00.003-04:00

At the Rock Band forums of all places.

The thread opened with the usual "It's fourth of July, support the troops, etc, etc, etc." No hard feelings.

However, as things happen, a massive political debate flared up and the longer it went on, the worse it go. So now I'm going to do what I do and paste quotes in here and have to combat them without having to worry about ignorant assholes rebutting since no one reads this blog anyway.

The very first post that set off the massive chain of attack and debate was this one:

And this has to do with rock band how?

This man, however, is correct. There is nothing spiteful about this comment at all. The poster is merely pointing out the fact a thread about patriotism and loving the US is posted in a forum called "Rock Band," and not the place where it belongs "General Discussion." For example, this is the same as someone bringing this topic up in a music class. It's simply not appropriate for that type of thing.

And naturally, as things happen, the group of people who had been posting in this thread beforehand took offense to it. And thus the big debate started when in response to the negative sentiments his post received, posted again.

I may be an ass but that is irrelevant.

This belongs in the general forum.

It's my opinion that the iraq war is pathetic. Invading a country without just cause and slaughtering hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, women and children. But I do not believe discussing it in the rock band forum is the right place.

Most of the posters ignored him and continued on with their pro-America talk. The two biggest posters of the thread to this point, Mimic and Raging Poodle are now locked neck and neck in debate. Mimic then posts a link to a "The Washington Post" article to defend his point. Raging Poodle takes offense and spatters out nonsense:

From the Washington Post, who has done and said everything to undermine the war since it's inception. Where did they get those numbers?? From the same people opposed to the war, propaganda.

The post I responded to said HUNDREDS of thousands, not maybe 100,000 by the most dubious estimate. Every time we or Israel bomb somewhere they claim that all we did was kill women and children and add zeros to the actual totals, I guess ignorance is bliss.

Let me guess, the only news source you read or watch is Fox News? Undermining the war makes a news source a bad news source? And don't tell me there wasn't propaganda to help FUEL the war. And Mimic's next post shares my thoughts completely:

1 innocent child killed is 1 too many. The number doesn't matter. The government estimates it's around 20,000. Is that acceptable to you? 20,000 dead innocent people is worth the it to shove democracy down the throats of a country who didn't ask for it?

Your argument is flawed.

The original poster of the thread returns, basically re-stating his original post, only this time in a more... debate-y manner. He also says that the Fourth of July is a holiday meant to support the troops.

It is NOT. It a a holiday meant to celebrate the founding fathers "sticking it up to the man", a concept the whole lot of you seem to have forgot.

The main posters in the thread go back to arguing his US soldiers killed innocents idea.

And here comes my post:

I will leave my political views out of this thread, as it has no point here. If anyone would like to discuss them, I'd be more then happy to discuss them somewhere else.

It's a holiday, so let's celebrate.

I was going to stay out of it, until Mimic disappeared and the Raging Poodle fellow posted this:

"You can't even honor the Armed Forces on the 4th of July without America hating left wingers having to throw their 2 cents in? They just can't control their disdain for America and the military for one lousy thread?

Islamic terrorists cutting peoples heads off? They have nothing to say about that. This "I support the troops but not the war" is a crock and a total cop out.

Take the anti-war sentiments somewhere else.

War has never solved anything, except ending slavery, defeating Nazism, etc., etc., Islamic fascism is next on the list, unless you would like to convert and have our women dressed in burkas."

Here's a list of responses:

Despite whatever you say, it is possible to support the troops but not the war. The troops didn't decide to invade a country without a declaration of war or sufficient evidence. Furthermore, it's a fallacy to compare this war in Iraq to the Civil war or WWII.

What is wrong with anti-war sentiments? Nothing is getting done in Iraq.

There's a reason I chose not to comment... remember, I said nothing about the war, However, I do think that "America hating left wingers" have every right to throw their two cents in, in a non-hostile, civil way.

I mean, look where we are. We're not at a 4th of July fireworks party, we're on the internet. In a video game forum. I could understand the general forum, but to post this here and expect every single person to either agree or ignore is a bit odd.

I'll keep my personal opinions on the troops and the war to myself to prevent an argument, but I can't expect everyone to do the same.

And finally, my post:

I am offended by this. I didn't want to get involved in the argument until I read this one. But it pushed me too far.

The fourth of July is NOT about celebrating the armed forces. As Mimic said, it is about celebrating independence. Memorial Day is for celebrating the Armed Forces. Furthermore, as an American, I am sure you can respect the Bill of Rights, the first of which is call Freedom of Speech. As an "America hating left winger", I have the right to say what I want.

Furthermore, the soldiers are following orders and out there to complete a job. It is possible to support the people doing a job, but not the job itself.

Point three: Slavery was NOT the point of the Civil War. Ending it was a by-product. Yes, it was for the better, but it was a byproduct nonetheless. There is also difference between the war in Iraq and the other wars you have listed. In the Civil War, the Confederacy seceded. In the war against Nazism, the United States did nothing until Germany declared war on us for declaring war on JAPAN. Granted, we were supporting Britain and France with supplies, but there is a difference between supporting and actually doing something. Finally, the war in Afghanistan was a direct response to 9/11. The war in Iraq was not. Saddam Hussein had no connection to Al-Qaeda, and it has been proven.

Now, I respect the OP's ideas. I wish his nephew-in-law luck in the armed forces.

A well thought out post, it it's full of holes. I was angry.

This is the response I got:

You disrespect the OP by coming in here and posting your lies. Saddams' ties to terrorists from all factions HAS been proven. Your knowledge of WWII is insulting as well. You know less than nothing. Where do you get your talking points, Noam Chomsky?

You have the "right" to post in this thread? No, you have the poor manners to post in this thread.

My knowledge of WWII is exactly right. You are the one who knows nothing about history. We were supplying the Allies with weapons and stuff, but we were not directly involved with the war until the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, at which case we declared war on Japan. The Axis responded by declaring war on us, which brought us into the war.

Furthermore, you sir, have obviously not read this:
Official US Study denies Saddam had links with Al-Qaida

Pay attention to this first few words now. OFFICIAL US STUDY DENIES. OFFICIAL. US. STUDY. DENIES. Oh wait, this wasn't reported by Fox News so it obviously means nothing. But ABC reported on it. A MAINSTREAM AMERICAN NEWS NETWORK reported on it. There IS no direct link of Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda. Get your facts right before you argue with me.

Me again:

How is my knowledge of WWII insulting? The US gave supplies to Britain and France. Japan bombed the Pearl Harbor. The US, along with China, declared war on Japan. The Axis powers in response, declared war on the US. Any history book will tell you that.

Furthermore, the fact of the matter is that the Iraq War has nothing to do with the war in Afghanistan. If we were really concerned with "The War On Terror", we'd focus there. Unfortunately, the lack of a ruler in Iraq has caused a power vacuum and now Al-Qaeda has a presence there. Well done.

I'm done with this thread. You are right about one thing, however. I should never have responded. Simply because arguing back and forth is never going to get anywhere and is NOT the point of this thread. But regardless of whether it is poor manners, I still have the right to post here and say what I want about it.

Happy 4th everyone.

Poodle:

We were not supply carriers in WWII, we were the major ASS-KICKERS. Al Quaeda WAS AND IS in Iraq, that's PART of the reason we're there, no use in explaining it to you, you wouldn't understand. The war on terror is EVERYWHERE, not just Iraq.

Yes, you shouldn't have posted here, try and think next time. Should I come on to a thread by a guy who has family in Iraq and throw my nut-job left wing talking points into it and insult the soldiers who believe in their mission? Or should I just keep my stupid mouth shut and leave a thread alone where people are honoring the military?

My gripe isn't with the original poster. My gripe is with morons like you.

This guy is my hero:

As opposed to how Baghdad was before the war? Never did find those weapons, did you? Oh I forgot, they moved them, right? I love the convenience of it all. How's it working with those oil prices?

War is good for the economy, and it's the sort of thing that can extend a president's term in the office for far longer than it should. Hijack a couple of planes, have your wicked way with them, and you could incite the people into doing whatever you want. All in all, it's only so clever because people are so stupid.

Me again:

We didn't "kick ass" until AFTER PEARL HARBOR. Check your history book next time.

Al Qaeda was not in Iraq before hand. They are there now because of a power vacuum caused by the elimination of Saddam Hussein.

Some new guy:

Like Raging Poodle CORRECTLY stated, Al Qaeda WAS in Iraq beforehand. Al Qaeda has F&#%ing sleeper cells here IN AMERICA so how can you possibly think that they weren't in Iraq??? Ignorance at it's finest... (shakes head)

And while we didn't kick ass until after pearl harbour, we sure kicked enough ass to make up for it! WHEN THERE'S A JOB TO BE DONE OR A WAR TO BE WON, CALL ON MOTHER GREEN AND HER KILLIN' MACHINE! OO-RAH!

Sleeper cells in the US?

Well, that certainly can't be good.

*rolls eyes*

So you admit that I was correct about the WWII thing? Well that's good. At least one of you knows something. I hope you know, however, that the Russians at Stalingrad kicked more ass than we could ever do.

And now we get to the 9/11 conspiracy part of the argument, a natural progression from "debating" the Iraq war. I'm not going to say anything about this one. And actually, by this point, I was sleeping.

By the 8th page of the thread, the most logical person who has posted in the thread yet comes and posts this:

Uh, this thread is making me sick. Raging poodle, I respect your opinion, but you obviously do not respect the opinions of others. Calling someone with different views then you "filth", and telling anyone to "rot in hell", is only hurting your argument, not helping.

This thread should be locked. The OP had good intentions, and like I predicted, it only started an argument and evolved into a flame war. This is possibly the worst thread I have read on this forum.

Idiotic response:

agreed that this thread should be locked, but I'd like to throw in that a 9/11 conspiracy theory is NOT an "opinion". It's a disgusting horrific lie and slanders the very essence of what it means to be an American.

So it's not like raging poodle was calling someone filth just because they wanna vote for a democrat or something, that would be different.

Do you believe everything the government tells you? Filth like you SHOULD rot in hell.

I'm not really going to post the other 3 pages of this thread because it continues to degenerate. A moderator finally locked it by the time I woke up and logged on to the computer this morning. Yay him.

EDIT: Finally, here is something I've been wanted to say for the longest time. Needed something appropriate to finally say it.

"Terrorism" is the use of fear to gain political means. FEAR of the terrorists mean the terrorists win.

Song of the Week: July 4th, 2008

2008-07-04T20:18:00.001-04:00

This is about as patriotic as I get, folks.

Flobots :: Handlebars

Lines in the Sand

2008-06-27T21:45:00.002-04:00

The final chapter of Serpents of the Dern is almost done. It's not the final chapter in the chronological sense of the storyline, but the final chapter I have to write. The final chapter of the "trouble storyline" I've solved by simply... eliminating the trouble character from the final scenes.

I'm expecting this chapter to be short. It doesn't need to be long. It does what it needs to do. I doubt it'll break 2k words, meaning it'll put Serpents just over 100k. I feel proud of myself. I feel accomplished.

Oh, and the good news is also that my dad is reading it again. So finally some work is getting done on it. I knew I said I'd let it go, but I had the sudden urge to finish it today. Hopefully, it'll be finished for good. Then, hopefully, I can send it out to publishers and start working on Dragons and/or my other, as of right now untitled, project.

Major Problems (Heh heh. Pun.)

2008-06-26T11:30:00.002-04:00

This is the first time I've seriously considered switching to Geology for my major. The main reason is because of the money. It's not cheaper. It'll take more work. It's the end result. Oil companies want Geologists right now.

My main problem is the two things I'd like to do, I don't need degrees for. And the main thing is that if I get a degree in either of these two things, there's no guarantee that money will be good.

But unfortunately, switching to Geology means I'd have to take Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics or Biology. Stuff I hate. Stuff I can't stand. But Geology is fun. It would get me out of taking a Foreign Language for my English degree though.

Also, on another note, I pulled a muscle in my chest.

Song of the Week: June 22, 2008

2008-06-24T17:52:00.003-04:00

Serj Tankian :: Empty Walls

Serj is a creepy guy. The suit. The hat. The tiny piano. The smile. The lyrics.

Firefox 3 and Flash

2008-06-20T19:20:00.001-04:00

Do NOT like each other. I got some random Flash player update installed on my computer and now it's not working with Firefox 3 at all. *sigh*

Time to get Firefox 2 from my dad and see what happens.

Admin Woes

2008-06-19T13:33:00.002-04:00

I'm sick and tired of this damn forum. I've banned one member about seven times. The rest of the members want him to come back every month or two. They keep claiming he's "a new person" or "he won't break the rules again". But he always does. And yet they continue to unban him. I'd get rid of the admins myself, but they'd simply leave and move to another forum made by the "second in command". He's not really the second in command; he just calls himself that.

Banning them from my forum will do no good. The creator of the other forum will simply bribe them with adminning rights. So nothing at all will happen. They'll just move on to their happy, anarchic place and ban me. Then I'll lose contact with the few people from this forum I actually care about staying in contact with.

Song of the Week: June 17, 2008

2008-06-17T20:34:00.002-04:00

Brian Kahanek :: Gemini

My current guitar-learny song.

Hooray, a Crappy Day

2008-06-17T10:43:00.002-04:00

I'm stuck in the house today. Oh, and probably for the rest of this week. Because I have to wait for four packages my dad ordered to arrive. So here goes another week where I have to sit on my ass all day doing nothing because I can't leave the house to wait on some things. I can't go look for a job. I can't go hang out with friends. I can't do anything.

No song of the week for today. Can't think of one.

Sands of Time... A movie

2008-06-16T18:14:00.004-04:00

So, it has come to my attention that Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Donnie Brasco, Goblet of Fire, Love in the Time of Cholera, etc.) is filming the Prince of Persia movie. Oh, AND Elfstones of Shannara if it gets made. However, the recent casting news of the Prince of Persia movie has killed all my hopes that the movie will give me as awesome a feeling as me playing through Sands of Time for the first time.

First of all, Jake Gyllenhaal has been cast as the prince, who for film purposes has been named Dastan. Not only is this a stupid name, but this does not equal the badassery of the Prince in the trilogy.

There's also some rather attractive chick as the leading lady. Can't really judge it based on the fact that I haven't seen her act. Oh, and Ben Kingsley is the Vizier. Which, if you're going to pick conniving and evil, you got with Kingsley. Of course, they were going to put him in Spiderman as the Vulture...

Now, my hopes have officially been crushed for this movie. I'll still see it, probably. Well, mainly because it's my favorite videogame ever. But if Newell kills the Sands of Time, who knows what this means for Elfstones. Which, by the way, is one of my favorite books ever. Way to kill my childhood.

Song of the Week: June 13, 2008

2008-06-13T10:55:00.001-04:00

Weezer, Pork and Beans.

I WANTED to do the awesome video, but it had embedding disabled. Go here to see it.

Untitled

2008-06-09T16:06:00.003-04:00

So I was in the car with my dad when he told me that as soon as he retires in a month or two, he's going to be heading down to Italy do fix up his house and that he's probably going to be gone for three, four, or more months.

This puts me in a difficult situation. As my dad was working, I was carpooling with him in the mornings to catch the bus downtown to Georgia State. As his work would end at the same time, he would drive me home as well. Now, with his trip planned when the school semester starts up again, this is going to be more difficult. In order for me to attend school, I might have to rush for my license. I might have to rush for a job. I might have to rush for so many things in a period of about two months.

However, there are English speaking universities in Rome. Two of them, I've hear. So I suppose I COULD transfer, but then I'd be leaving all my friends behind.

So I don't really know what I'm going to do. I can only pick one. If I stay here, everything will be put on my shoulders it feels like. I don't know if I'm entirely ready for that. If I go, I'll still have a lot of responsibilities. I'll have to learn to speak Italian, build a new, albeit probably small, social network. Basically, I'll be staring a new life. Thank God for the Internet.

To make matters even harder, my family recently had a "falling out" of sorts with my extended family on matters I don't exactly know. I haven't really gotten around to asking. If I go with my dad, I'm not entirely sure what my mom would do. I feel like I should stay around to possibly protect her or something, but I know I'll terribly miss my dad.

However, on the other side of things, my dad is convinced the country is falling apart. But what frightens me is that he's usually right about these things.

So I really don't know.

Song of the Week: June 3, 2008

2008-06-03T13:59:00.001-04:00

Sonata Arctica :: Don't Say a Word

For some reason, this song makes me feel better when I'm upset. I don't entirely know why, and I don't know what that says about me. I'm still bummed about Friday and yesterday. Now that I think about it, it's possible I could have gotten a ride. But I was too frustrated, tired, and angry to care.

Frustrations

2008-06-02T21:27:00.005-04:00

So, someone from this forum right here was coming down to my little town as they passed through into Florida for a wedding. I was going to meet her. It turned out to be a bigger group thing, or at least that was what the plan was going to be. It turns out I don't entirely know what happened since I never received a phone call Friday afternoon on what was happening.

I would have called said person traveling down to Duluth, but:
1. I didn't want to disturb her had she been driving and,
2. I accidentally deleted the PM that had her phone number in it, so I couldn't call her anyway.

So here I was, waiting for a phone call. I never got one. The weekend passes, and I just assumed nothing happens. Monday comes up, and I get a call from someone else saying they're going to meet her. I appreciate the call, but by this time it's late, I have no car, my parents aren't about to take me. So I can't really do anything now, can I?

Song of the Week: May 27, 2008

2008-05-27T15:56:00.001-04:00

Tay Zonday :: Chocolate Rain

So, since I turned down the last job offer, I'm back on the hunt. But now, I need a resume.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

2008-05-26T17:07:00.003-04:00

Okay, upon viewing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for the second time, I have come across several conclusions (these conclusions may--and do--contain several spoilers):

1. Karen Allen is still insanely attractive at 58. Am I weird for thinking that?

2. I want to know if it's possible to survive a nuclear explosion by sheltering yourself in a refrigerator. If this is true, then I believe I can survive Nuclear Winter. So long as the refrigerator is stocked with plenty of food.

3. Shia LeWhatever is a decent actor. But I do not want to see him taking the Indy franchise over.

4. What was up the prairie dogs and monkeys?

Okay, now we come to the spoiler-tastic portion of my review:

Upon seeing Crystal Skull for the second time, I have decided it was a good movie. It fits into the paranoias and politics of the 50s. Red Scare! UFOs! A phenomenal action scene in the middle of the Amazon rain forest! Commies! Not to mention aliens. The crystal skull is an alien skull. Aliens crashed into the Amazon rainforest and gave technology to the Mayas.

I've thought a long time about this. Aliens. Indiana Jones. And aliens. Originally, I could not really wrap my head around the idea. But it makes sense. In the three previous Indy movies, he is always searching for something sacred. In two of the films--the ones with Nazis--they are Christian/semi-Christian artifacts: The Ark of the Covenant (which makes a brief appearance in Crystal Skull towards the beginning), and the Holy Grail. In the "prequel" film, he is searching for some sacred Indian stones. In Crystal Skull, he is searching... although not really searching...

Unlike the other films, he finds the Crystal Skull about halfway through the movie. This is where it differs. Although you will have to excuse me if I'm not remembering things correctly, as it's been awhile since I've seen the previous three movies. Rather than excavating something, he is returning it.

Anyway, as I have to go somewhere and don't feel like rewriting all of this, Crystal Skull is more in line with Temple of Doom. And it feels different than the previous Indy films.

Smarter than You

2008-05-23T21:51:00.003-04:00

This blog was originally going to be about on how much I hated Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Okay, not "hated". Perhaps that's too strong of a word. Perhaps maybe "disappointed." Perhaps I was just shocked, in denial, of the elements introduced into at the film's climax. Perhaps maybe I was just irritated that the theater I was seeing the movie in kept messing up, and therefore the reel had to stop spinning a couple times throughout, and the dialog even messed up at one point. But hey, I got a free movie ticket out of it... Which I might be using when my parents go to see it. I'll probably write my thoughts about it when I see it a second time... uninterrupted.

But then I had a job interview, and decided that I simply HAD to write about it. I won't state the company name. They sell knives.

They sent me a letter in the mail:

"Dear [your name here],

We have job openings. Base pay is [high amount of money]. We offer flexible schedules. Please call [this number] to schedule an interview.

[Company name]. [Signature]."

So, yes. I was sent a letter. For a job interview. Well, I called because I thought "Why not, it couldn't hurt." So I go. In fact, I just got back. AT 9:45 AT NIGHT! My interview was at 6:45.

I go to this building. It wasn't hard to find--I had my parents drive me. I see this young guy outside. I walk in. There's a sign in sheet. The young guy walks inside and tells me to sign in, which I do, and walk to the first door on my left, which I do, right after he hands me an application, which I fill out inside the room. Then he starts calling people inside the room to talk to him. There's maybe 5 or 6 of them. I wait. Only takes about 20 minutes or so for everyone. I'm last. I go talk to the guy. Talk is the wrong word. Hand Young Guy the paper. Then he says "Go to the room at the end of the hallway." Which I do.

I'm in this room for TWO HOURS as he rubs in our faces--it's a group interview--about how great his company is. He shows us the fancy knives they sell, and their uber cutting power. I am decently impressed. He shows us a letter from Ronald Reagan to the President of [company], shortly before he sent a set of cutlery to the Soviet Premier. Part of me is impressed. The other part is disgusted. I hate Reagan after all.

After that comes the pay. Seemed like a lot of money on paper, but then they tell you what you have to do--a Knife Salesman. The pay isn't worth it. You spend the money they pay you to meet with people and sell stuff on gas money to meet said people. I don't have a car.

Several hours later, and actually one hour ago, the special "group interview" finishes and Young Guy calls us back for another one on one interview. I'm last again. I'm convinced I didn't get the job. It turns out I got the job.

But I don't want it.

Song of the Week: May 20, 2008

2008-05-20T13:13:00.002-04:00

Red Hot Chili Peppers :: Can't Stop

I love this song. It's so catchy.

Also, one of the funniest websites I've ever seen:

Right here.

Bad Haircut

2008-05-17T11:46:00.002-04:00

I hate this stupid haircut. It's too short. It's ugly. I miss my hair. I want it back. This haircut sucks. It's ugly.

The barber doesn't know how to use scissors.

I wish my mom would let ME tell the guy how I want my hair to be cut instead of her. I'm 20. SO LET ME DECIDE HOW IN THE HELL I WANT MY HAIR TO BE CUT. I'm tired of going to get my haircut and having these ugly haircuts when I get done, and then having to wait a month for it to grow out acceptable, and then another month for it to get long, and then another month to... Yeah, you get it.

My parents even agree I need to start growing up more. SO STOP TELLING THE STUPID GUY HOW TO CUT MY DAMN HAIR.

Song of the Week: May 13, 2008 (And Other Stuff)

2008-05-13T14:07:00.006-04:00

Dream Theater :: Misunderstood

Yay another Dream Theater song. Mainly cause I'm listening to it right now and I'm not in the mood to go looking for anything else.

It's been a week since the Georgia State Bookstore called me for that interview. It's been six days since said interview. I'm assuming I didn't get the job, which means I'm running out of ideas. I've been looking on Monster.com all day and finding nothing. I don't want to go and bug GameStop again, as that was my main "job hunt" last summer.

I'm so bored. I hate summer.

Also, I hate tags. They don't work. Maybe cause I forgot to put commas.

Magical Strings

2008-05-08T21:01:00.003-04:00

I swear these new guitar strings are magic. I played it. You know. It. The song. The one that's been annoying me. I played the difficult part, and then played the second hard part while I was sort of zoned out staring into the closet. It was quite odd. But it was quite awesome, too. Then I tried to do it again and couldn't. So I moved onto something else. And I played it.

I swear this new guitar strings are magic.

A Sudden Idea

2008-05-07T10:17:00.004-04:00

So I've been working on several books of mine for the longest time, since high school actually. I've been working on one of them, drafting and drafting until finally nearly completing it. Once completed, it's slowly fallen apart and various pieces of the book have had to have been rewritten. But once again, it's nearly done. I've always been able to get the beginning and the middle, but always have trouble with the ending. Essentially, it's about the fall of an empire, as seen from without. Said empire is helping to stem a coup in order to net some valuable resources that could win them the war in the homeland.

The second book, the second part, is told from the other side of the world to give a sense of the bigger picture. I know the middle and the ending in my head, but never the beginning. Essentially, it is about revolution and the fall of an empire, as seen from within.

But now as I sit at school, the solution has finally come to me: What if I combined them? Doing so leaves behind many of the same plot elements, many of the same themes. Unfortunately, it means the whole novel will have to be reworked at this point. Several characters that I have fallen in love with need to be reworked, destroyed, and combined with others. Several plotlines may not make the cut. Doing this will also probably cause the story to be expanded into more than one book. As I continue to work on it, I suppose I will post more storyline details and characters as things solidify.

As of right now, the first book shall be called Summer's Tides.

It is going to take me a little bit to prepare myself to do it. In the meantime, I suppose I will take a break and work on my other story idea. I have a prologue sitting around and suppose I need to do something with it.

Song of the Week: May 6, 2008

2008-05-06T19:16:00.002-04:00

Dream Theater :: Prophets of War

An awesome some from my favorite band ever. And it doesn't have a guitar solo. 0_o

So apparently, I have a job interview tomorrow.

Summer Woes

2008-05-05T13:03:00.002-04:00

I now realized why I hate summer: I have absolutely nothing to do. I'm bored out of my mind. I'm on Monster searching for a job. I'm sitting on my ass doing nothing. My guitar has broken strings and I'm too lazy to change them. I have a headache. I've listened to the same song 20 times.

I have absolutely nothing to do.

Song of the Week: April 29, 2008 (And some other musings)

2008-04-29T12:54:00.002-04:00

Porcupine Tree :: Way Out of Here

On another note, after taking my History final at 8:00 in the morning, the history professor told me that I had the highest grade in the class going into the final. So uh, yay me, I guess.

I have three finals left--British Lit, the worst of them all, Geology, and Political Science. I'm expecting B's in my Geology and Poli Sci finals, and I really don't want to think about the Brit Lit one, but I have HOPE to worry about... hopefully the A from History and a possible and probable C will balance themselves out.

My dad is threatening to take away the PS2 unless I get a summer job. I don't really play the PS2 that much anymore, so I suppose it could be worse. But he DOES realize I don't have a car, right?

Song of the Week: April 22, 2008

2008-04-22T20:59:00.001-04:00

Live :: Turn My Head

Mainly because I can't think of anything and it came up in Pandora Radio.

So yay.

Barack... Hitler?

2008-04-17T18:52:00.004-04:00

So today in my history class, my teacher compared Presidential hopeful Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler, the scourge of the 20th century and universally excepted evil bad guy. And this is being compared with a young, charismatic, liberal, African-American man. Hmmm.... the resemblance. It's uncanny.

I got angry.

So did some guy I don't know who sits in the corner of the right of me. He spoke out. I didn't and laughed inside my head. I don't know who I was laughing at. Maybe I was laughing at both of them. I felt good that someone spoke out against it, but our history professor kept going. He put "the bad stuff aside", and said they were both good public speakers, young, charismatic. I want to know what articles he was reading.

And for that matter, so was JFK.

Song of the Week: April 15, 2008

2008-04-15T19:39:00.001-04:00

Red Hot Chili Peppers :: Scar Tissue

Good song.

We Say: We Were, We Are, We Will Be

2008-04-10T18:57:00.003-04:00

These are the final words of the final chapter of the book Iron Council by China Mieville. A real good book of his Bas-Lag series, of which Perdido Street Station and The Scar also fit into.

However, unlike the other novels, Council is inserted with many of Mieville's political ideals, and the enitre book itself seems to be a weird attack on society.

The "Iron Council"--and the search for it--is the plot of a third the book. What it is isn't as important as what it stands for, and what it means to the people who live with it, and the people who live in New Crobuzon. Judah Low, a... talented... golemist has been sent to find it. Tagging along with him on the journey are your usual ragtag band of "heroes". You have Cutter, Pomeroy, Elsie, and Drogon, along with several others who don't live beyond through the first couple of chapters or so. The perspective switches from Cutter to Oli, a young man who finds himself within the middle of a revolutionist movement within the city and how the government fights back.

The middle third--"The Perpetual Train"--is a novella length story from the perspective of Judah Low, that talented golemist. We learn what the Iron Council is, and why it is so important.

The final third brings everything together.

In Mieville style, things don't end well. It is not the usual fantasy style where everyone has a happy ending. Many of the "heroes" end up worse than they started out.

So um... go read it.

Oh, and on a completely unrelated note, Atlanta just passed a law that allows for concealed weapons in MARTA, parks, and several other places.

YEEEEEE-HAAAAAAW!!! *bang bang bang*

Song of the Week: April 6th, 2008

2008-04-08T19:15:00.003-04:00

Muse :: Take a Bow

The lyrics of the song remind me of a certain someone. But I won't say any names. That would make it too obvious. Just try to figure it out for yourself.

Is Matt Bellamy a musical genius or a drunken fool?

How do you think the guy feels who threw the shoe?

Also, I'm never, ever going to learn Sweet Child of Mine. The stupid guitar solo is driving me to the brink of insanity.

Hair Brushing

2008-04-04T18:52:00.002-04:00

I've noticed that I tend to brush my hair when I'm brushing my teeth at night before I go to bed. I don't know why I do it.

Sometime it's the only time I actually comb my hair.

The Story of Stuff

2008-04-03T19:08:00.001-04:00

Watch this video. That is all.

Disturbing...

2008-04-02T18:18:00.002-04:00

The Top 100 Fundamentalist Christian Quotes.

I read it, and it made me sick. Sure, some of them were funny. Some of them were downright idiotic. But most of them were sickening, and it makes me wonder the future of this country.

I'm going to quote several of them, and rant about them now.

You got it backwards.

Creationism is based upon science, reason and tons of evidence.

Evolution is based on the blind acceptance of superstitions and fairy tales.

No, good sir (or madam). You got it backwards.

There were so many about evolution in here I can't really quote them all.

I honestly don't care about your rights. If it were up to me, all Atheists would be burnt at the stake and or cast into a river with weights tied to their ankles and or placed before the firing squad, etc etc etc

Whatever happened to preaching love? Last time I checked, Jesus never killed anyone.

There was some long post where some dumbass still believes the world is flat and that the universe still revolves around the earth... because the Bible tells him so.

A woman wants to abort a rape child? She should have thought of that before she walked down that dark alley without a male prescence, not to mention she should have thought before putting on revealing attire.

Imagine for a second YOU were a woman...

"Make sure your answer uses Scripture, not logic."

Doesn't that like... contradict everything?

More stuff about science. Some stuff about gay people. Stuff about sexually abusing young boys (being okay, as long as there is no penetration). More gay stuff. Some racist bastard.

To say the Bible was written by men and may contain inaccuracies completely contradicts the word of the Bible.

So uh... who wrote it down?

The word of God has been in heaven forever. The KJV has always been there. The so called Hebrew words like Alleluia are English words. The English did not borrow them from the Hebrew but rather the Hebrew borrowed them from the English. If the KJV has always been there and is the original word of God then there is no other conclusion. The same can be said for any so called Greek words that were borrowed from the Greek or transliterated. It is a matter of what bias you approach this particular subject.

Uh... huh...

Top Ten Signs you're a dumbass atheist:

10. You vigorously deny the existence of God, yet you frequently blame him for everything that is wrong in modern society.
9. You repeatedly insist that man did not, in fact, evolve from an ape. Apes and men both evolved from another species who did not resemble Curious George in any way.
8. You criticize Christians who don't know their Bible, yet you have never opened any of Darwin's texts.
7. While all created evidence and reasoning point to a Creator and absolute truth, you prefer to hide behind relativism and a theory of evolution which does not, in fact, describe the creation of the universe at all.
6. You can't seem to understand the fundamental differences between fundamental Muslims and fundamental Christians (hint: strap-on TNT)
5. You willingly attribute all historical atrocities in Europe to a demographic that contained approximately 100% of Europeans during the period in question.
4. You also like to ignore the beneficial discoveries of the aforementioned demographic.
3. You don't realize that a closed system can be defined however the observer wants, so you throw out technological phrases to try to ignore the implications of thermodynamics.
2. You accuse Christians of being hateful and you hope that they DIAF.
1. Your biggest complaint is that these typically hopeful and caring people want to share the greatest single thing in their life with you. You're like an idiot who wipes with winning lottery tickets. Clap. Clap.

Clap.

10. I'm not an atheist. I just feel like responding.
9. Yeah... and?
8. Touche.
7. The Big Bang? Actually, I was taking philosophy, see...
6. Hint: Not all fundamentalist Muslims are terrorists. And I'm SURE some fundamentalist Christians would love to go kablooey in a pack of gay, sinning, heathens. Prove me wrong.
5. 100% EQUALS ALL OF THEM... dumbass.
4. Touche.
3. Again... this applies to the discussion... how? What does thermodynamics have to do with ANYTHING?
2. Have you... READ any of the stuff on this web page?
1. No, my biggest complaint it that you are a group of ignorant bastards. The word of God is supposed to be spread through love, not rampant hating on other groups. Clap. Clap.

Clap.

Atheists: 8, Fundamentalists: 2.

Some more random stuff.

But think about it, who is smart enough to write the Holy Bible? The answer, no one.

[...]

How could people back then have written words with such intellegence? We were not very educated back then, we all know. So tell me, how could people back ages ago could have written the bible?

*facepalm*

[When asked to prove the existence of a soul, in order to validate his claim that life begins at conception]

I don't have to "prove" anything.

You see, I have this wonderful thing called "faith" and with that I have no need of proof.

So don't yell at scientists for not being able to back stuff up either. If you don't need proof, neither do they. If they need proof, you do to.

More Harry Potter is evil stuff.

If the Bible is wrong when it tells us it is infallible, then it contradicts itself. If it contradicts itself, then it is unreliable. If it is unreliable, then our faith is totally shattered and Christianity is a lie. You need to seriously reconsider your logic.

Remember that quote about only being able to use scripture and not logic?

If you call yourself a person of God and refuse to help arrest faggots, you belie yourself and prove you do not belong to the God who is committed to burning faggots.

If you refuse to help arrest faggots, you really should expect to be left behind when God comes to collect His people.

Again... Jesus preached love. Not hatred.

More hatred on the gays.

Jesus is not a Jew. Jesus was Jewish.

This one is my favorite. Simply because it's so... stupid. If you're Jewish... THEN YOU'RE A JEW!!!

The next comment is one that takes Women's Rights back about 200 years.

More hatred on the gays.

There is not a single passage or concept in the Bible that would be offensive to any human on the planet.

So the Bible is G rated, then, right?

A lot of other stuff. There's really too much here for me to post.

God revealed to me two things about the timing of the rapture. God specifically told me 2007 was the year, because I was only going to have from 3 to 3 1/2 years to spread the message after my book was published.

Hey buddy, it's 2008.

To me, religion is evil. It is manmade and man-centered. I have a belief. A belief in My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This is the ONLY statement in this entire page I can agree with.

Of-course religious people do bad things sometimes. But at least their religion forces them to acknowledge within themselves the evil they do. Atheists have no such guidance. They are just like psychopaths! Cold, mechanical, soul-dead!

Again... have you been reading some of this stuff?

Bush is the the antichrist.

Uh oh.

This is why fundamentalism angers me. Good day, Internets. I must finish my essays now.

Song of the Week, April 1, 2008

2008-04-01T19:08:00.003-04:00

I'll be posting these uh... once a week. If you couldn't tell by the title.

This week's song:

Yellow Matter Custard :: While My Guitar Gently Weeps

It's a cover of an awesome Beatles song, by some awesome musicians. Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater, Neal Morse from Spock's Beard, Matt Bissonette, and Paul Gilbert from Mr. Big and Racer X.

Paul Gilbert is awesome. He's an awesome guitar player. He also happens to be my secret mancrush. Well, I guess it's not so secret anymore. The man plays guitar with his teeth. The man is simply awesome. The man has an awesome fringey guitar and a cool hat, as seen here:

I must go learn this song now.

New Car Smell

2008-03-31T08:21:00.002-04:00

Hey look, it's another blog.

So why did I decide to make one? I don't really know. I think I was reading one some time this weekend and the idea popped into my head. I still don't really know why I made one, but we'll see how this goes.

Until the new car smell runs out, I'll probably be posting in this at least once a day. After that who knows.

Now I guess it's time to read about me.
I'm in college. I play guitar. I uh...

Yeah.