CNET articles that sort of piss me off

I hate it when hipsters pretend to be nerds and then write another crappy top 10 lists. This one has the most evil computers from science fiction. Somehow they find it prudent to put crap on there like the computer from Superman 3 or some random villain from Star Trek. At the same time, they forgot such not so minor entries like

- The MCP from Tron
- SHODAN, which makes the AI from Portal look like a kindly baker
- The computer from War Games

And that's all you really need to know to know this list was crap, though as the comments mention, if these guys really knew their stuff we should have seen Wintermute and Neuromancer as well.

I know lists like these in general are stupid to begin with, but they can have some semblance of entertainment when you take the approach of cracked.com, where lists are for completely asinine things. You don't care about who is on it or what the order is, but what ridiculous things they'll come up with. When lists try to get serious or authoratative, that's when it gets really retarded.

Also, an opinion piece on how Blockbuster is going to go bust sooner rather than later. I agree, but when the guy wonders what they could do to improve things, I shake my head. True, Netflix is helping kick their ass. But Hollywood Video doesn't seem to be nearly as prevalent as Blockbuster, and they don't seem to be going out of business. The difference? Hollywood Video doesn't treat customers with contempt. I remember walking into one the Tuesday Bioshock released. The result? Stacks of the game to rent. Not one or two copies, but literally 15-20. They have a wide variety of games, well organized, and lots of them. You don't get to keep them as long as Blockbuster, but that's okay. Plus they give you free rentals when you don't come in for a while.

I've never been in a Blockbuster I liked. The games sections are always horribly organized, because no one goes around to see if the kids are messing things up. They don't get new games in immediately, and what they do have never gets more than two copies in. Sometimes you won't be able to tell if a game is actually in because the case behind the display case is for something else. They have miserable stores compared to Hollywood Video, to the point where you don't even want to go there to rent something they probably won't have it. If they just treated their stores a little better, it would surely help. Instead they give the impression that they don't care, and as a result, neither do we.

Where is the truth?

Lots of times I'm asked why I don't take many stands in politics. Why I've got bad words for everyone. Repubs, Dems, Internet-Libertarians that worship Ron Paul. The reason is very much simple; it isn't that I don't care, or that I don't follow the news. I just don't know what to believe. And I do not want to discuss what might not be the truth.

Here's a recent example - the tasing incident in Florida. Among a few friends of mine, the topic of debate here is clear; whether police go too far with their means of apprehension. This is the only issue I can find that is worthy of discussion. Yet there are some folks that think that more things like this should happen to "punk ass students", which is absolutely asinine, while liberals are spinning this into a free speech martyr. Watch the clips of the incident in which they so conveniently cut out the parts that show the student cutting the line, being rude, etc. What about when his alloted time was over? The kid was treated harshly, but he also took time away from other students. Then there are reports of his possible antics before the speech, and of him asking if camera crews would be at the police station. In another light this kid is opportunistic and scheming, and nothing at all like the martyr people want him to be. And yet, so many of these claims are (as far as I can tell) unreported. and so its tough to condemn him. Point is, every side wants to spin this to suit their need, and no amount of false plays of innocence is going to pull the wool over my eyes. Is it a free speech issue? Tough to say when no one wants to look at the whole picture.

It happens in so many other places. Obviously the headlines on cnn or msnbc.com are load of crap, filled as much with celebrity news as anything. But its tough to believe some of the news pieces that pop up on Digg with flooring and devastating news about the administration when their sources seem so asinine and anything but concrete. I'm sorry, but when people on that site start to feel good about the president of Iran because they hate Bush so much, it is hard to take them seriously.

Remember the Downing Street memo? I showed it to someone who was absolutely floored by it. It was a pretty shocking document. But amazed as I was, I was also there when I learned parts of it were edited and changed, which I had to factor into my consideration of the information. I don't think she ever did the same thing. Anything condemning Bush was A-ok for her and so many others. But it isn't a very good idea to fight your opponent when your own information may not be kosher.

Just what the hell is correct? Who is giving us the straight skinny? And how the hell do you convince people that the little slice of it that is sitting in their heads and cranking out their brash armchair political analysis might be wrong?

Makes me question all those history classes I've taken

Cleaning House

I went through my music collection today, cleaning out a lot of junk that I haven't and wont' ever listen to. I realized a long time ago that keeping songs on your harddrive just because you can is a pretty retarded idea, especially when you are as lazy as me and would rather shuffle through your entire music directory rather than create playlists. When I was a freshman in college and had most of a 120 gig drive to utilize, and I met people with binders full of CD's, I did stupid things like rip E.T. the soundtrack. How it took me this long to get around to removing most of it is beyond me.

Now my library is at a bit more than 11 gigs - paltry by many people's standards, but I have learned that this too is a rather foolish thing to think or do. Yes, you might actually fill that 60 gig ipod to capacity, but are you really listening to it all? Or are you just downloading/buying tracks hand over fist so you can listen to them for two times before moving on to the next thing. I think a lot of people are afraid, unwilling, or too lazy to trim their collection, and for me only the last option is understandable. So you have the full discography of Blink 182. You have since Junior High. Are you really listening to it anymore now that you're out of college. For me these answers are a hearty "no". So I get rid of it. I listen to music on an ipod shuffle, which forces me to pick the best songs and actually listen to albums as a complete work rather than a string of singles. It really has improved the listening experience.

The fact that I'm calling a library of 2,500 songs lean is horrible. But the truth is that compared to many modern music listeners it really is. We truly are in a society of media overload. We thrill at having so many songs, games, and movies at our command. Web 2.0 is sweet. Yadda Yadda Yadda. But sooner or later it piles up, and when it does you find yourself either ignoring some things or keeping up with all of it. The latter drives you nuts, and the former makes you wonder why you gobbled it up in the first place.

Keeping it simple is tough in its own ways, but it sure is nice sometimes.

And Another One

Normally I don' find myself interested in either mashups or nerdcore. This is an exception on both fronts. I think you will find it more than acceptable.

Like dairy and canned goods, singles have a national awareness week. Way to try and make ourselves feel better for lack of sex by pretending we're feeling better.

Feel better?

Also, Talk Like a Pirate day? Fuck that jazz. Congratulations - you helped beat an internet meme into the ground and proceed to kick the corpse over the span of several years. Now cut it out and latch onto something else that's just as bad and probably a year stale by now.

Wise men have pointed out that "geeks" don't celebrate Talk Like a Ninja Day because it would mean they would have to shut up and not annoy us

Fall is Autumn

I don't think my last post was that long ago, but somehow I have a lot to talk about. Better than nothing.

So this is the first fall that I can remember that I am not returning to school. I must say that the transition went smoothly, but it still remains a bit jarring. When you know people that are going back to a world of exams and silly parties and free events, it puts your own life in perspective, in the sense that you ask yourself if you miss it all. As of now, I can't say that I do, though more than one person has told me this eventually change. I don't see it though. I have a theory on this - the people that tell me most enthusiastically that I will miss college are the ones that had zero responsibility outside of graduating. People that didn't even have to pay a measly cell phone bill in all of their lives. For them, the small tidbits of responsibility in college is enough. These people have had mom and dad write all the checks out for them, and they don't like having to do it for themselves. I guess when you were writing checks to mom and dad before you were old enough to relieve your minimum wage job with smooth relaxing cigarettes, it isn't quite the tough pill to swallow. I never lived the real world life in college, but I came close one summer, and it was enough to make me want the whole damn thing, to be completely in control of my life. It has its ups and downs, but its working.

Back to being out of school - you really don't notice it too much. You're so ingrained into your new life and schedule that you forget about the old transitions you used to have to make. If anything, you start to take in and appreciate the change in season more than you used to, and that is quite nice.

My job gave me business cards. Apparently my title is "Software Engineer" This is alarming - I would have accepted "Programmer" or "Code Monkey" or "What the fuck does he do?" Software Engineer seems too fancy, at least until I have more experience.

Still doesn't hurt when trying to impress business types who don't know better.

I had a block party on my street last weekend, and it was quiet impressive. Who knew how much better beer pong was when played on a city street at midnight.

I have also acquired a copy of the Dreamcast version of Ikaruga. I have been waiting years to play this, and while I am embarrassed to be so late to the party, it is everything I had hoped it would be and more. It looks like a dream, and while I can't even beat the damn thing yet I can aleady see how deep it is. This little shooter may take up all of my game time until Halo 3, and even then I'm not sure what will happen.

I am really sad that Colin McRae has died. Watching the man was a treat, and he made WRC the only racing event I could stomach. He will be sorely missed, and I really wish more news outlets in the states gave the story coverage. He wasn't a household name in America, but the man excelled at multiple types of vehicles and races. We might be infatuated with NASCAR, but McRae was a special kind of talent that any race fan can appreciate.

My Mets cap has some wire mesh poking out on the inside, and rubbing it against my head caused several noticeable (but not deep) scratches in my forehead! No one has said anything about them, but that just might be because they don't know what to make of it. It looks like I took out my rage on my wall of a forehead, which makes no sense. Hopefully they'll heal soon. In the meantime, I have electrical tape on the inside of the cap to cushion. It feels really nice now, to the point where I don't want to replace it. I really, really should though. Guess you can't part with something you hold so dear. Rest assured I won't get any replacement until I'm back in New York. Then I'll have to break it in so drunk people want to steal it.

On a final note, I have to introduce everyone to a new member of the family -

I still have to test it actually, as I know it has disc read errors. Even if it runs with issue, this gives me a chance to play some absolute classics. I'm proud to add one more notch in my Sega belt. Now to find a copy of Christmas Nights...

Critical Mass

The following games will be released within two weeks of each other

-Halo 3
-Half Life 2 Orange Box
-King of Fighters XI

The last two are my numbers one and two most anticipated games currently.

This is bad folks. Real bad.

If only my student loans didn't kick in a month after these releases.

Any ideas for quick cash?

Football

I hate to say it, but I think the sport of football is waning on me.

Last night I watched the Giants play on Sunday Night Football. In its first year, SNF was a timid imitation of its old life as Monday Night Football. Now the transformation is complete, sort of. Instead of the iconic MNF song, we have some other country song that will change every week as different teams play each other. Also, instead of Hank Williams Jr. rocking out, we have a random country singer I can't name singing in front of a large screen display that is surrounded top and bottom with Sprint Logos, in case you did not know who the Official Wireless Provider of the NFL is. Even worse was the advertisement shown several times that seemed to be for both SNF and Chevy trucks. And when there's Chevy, you know there's that horrible Mellencamp song. And when there's said song, you know there will be grossly innacurate and stereotyped portrayals of true Americans, in this case what looks to be 20's era Italian immigrants playing football in a back alley. Yes

Then of course is the actual game, which means I have to listen to John Madden. If I hear one more person make excuses for the man and retarded commentary, I might just stop watching him. Regardless, the rest of the show winds up playing out exactly like MNF - far too long and drawn out with all the breaks and bullshit. The first quarter should not always be a guaranteed minimum of 45 minutes long.

But its more than a crappy broadcast that bothers me. Football's popularity is unquestionable, but I really start to wonder if it is getting out of hand. Hear me out on this one - I'll do my best not to make it a "I can't like popular things" rant.

For years, my family's football tradition was the same. Myself, dad, and one brother watched the Giants, maybe some other games. You'd read some sports news in the Sunday paper. That was it. It was nice and relaxing and you could get excited about the game every week. Later years introduced more beer and another brother to the mix, but all in all the Sunday tradition remained strong until we all moved out of the house.

But while we hardly changed, football sure did. You can't get away from it now. Here's how the week looks during football season.

Sunday - game day
Monday - post game day talk and another game
Tuesday - more post game talk because hey, we just had another game
Wednsday - perfect time to prepare your fantasy team?
Thursday - often another game
Friday - Time to make your picks for next week on the radio and argue about it for half an hour
Saturday - College Football

It never ends. And its getting ridiculous. There's no such thing as just enjoying your Sunday. Football is on every day of the week, and quite literally you cannot get away from it unless you tune yourself out from the sports world, and when you're also a baseball fan, that's pretty much impossible. We don't need all this information folks. I don't want to know who the radio jockeys are picking for each game. I sure as hell don't care about their fantasy results. I don't want some guy picking the best game each week of the season before it even starts based on how he thinks it will play out. Guess what? No one is ever right about any given season.

ESPN, I don't want any more bad jokes about College fandom. Penn State and Nortre Dame suck. I get it. Women watch football too. I get it.

I'm sick of fantasy. Maybe one day people will realize just how much of the game relies on luck and I won't have to see 13 magazines eager to dish out draft tips every time I hit the grocery store in late July. I also won't have to watch football with relatives that have a beer in one hand and the mouse in the other, watching the Yahoo stat tracker more than the game in front of them. And if they tell me about how they're happy that a Dallas player scored on NY because "he's on my fantasy team".

I'm glad you're product is an official sponsor of the NFL. Doesn't make me want to buy it. In fact it does nothing but remind me that the NFL is incredibly greedy and strict with their product. You can thank them for leaving Madden as the only football game in town.

Football should be about the game. It should not be a three ring circus where everything around the game matters more. Ever actually try and watch a football game in a crowded bar? It simply can't happen. And that I think explains my woes better than anything.

It looks like the Giants are going to suck this year, and I live in Baltimore. I think this is a good time to genuinely disconnect myself from football for a season, at least as best as I can in this 24 world of sporting. Concentrate on fall baseball, etc. I think it could work out well. I know what you're thinking - why don't you watch the Ravens? I say no thank you - any fanbase that feels they're invincible after winning a division on a super soft schedule, and includes people that think Boller is a wise choice as backup is not a fanbase I can actually join in good faith. New York fans are assholes, but we know when to shit on our teams, which is pretty much all the time.

Custom Job

I'm not a big fan of the Xbox 360 Guitar Hero controller. My roomate's seems to be falling apart on him, and the color just isn't what I expected it to be. Considering also that I will be using the GH3 Les Paul in any game that I can use it in once it releases, I didn't care much what happened to my used Xplorer controller. So here's what I did to it



It is not perfect - the frets stick a little bit, and the paint on them isn't very smooth. The whammy bar is broken as well, though I do know how to fix it (and I'm not sure I feel like unscrewing it all to get there. I still managed to five star a couple songs last night though, and since I never go for the highest of scores playing on this one, I can't complain about the performance hit. All in all, something fun to do and a learning experience about dismantling console hardware.

Punisment Park

I know that among people my age, it is rather fashionable to be in love with the film V for Vendetta. Never mind if you have no idea of the comic, or if the idea of a masked, faceless mob as the only way of fighting back seems sad and pathetic - if you want to show your rebellious stripes, V is for you.

I think I've got something better.

Punishment Park is a fake docmentary created by British director Peter Watkins during the Nixon years. After being shutdown and shutout upon release, its out on DVD, and now Google Video. I've read a lot of opinions about it - some say it is a disturbingly accurate look at possible future for our current political world, others say its overblown hippie propoganda. Some argue that the film has less power without any context (ie. you have no idea of politics between WW2 and Vietnam, you have no idea about this film), while still others wonder if some of the messages are too simple and exaggerated.

All valid and interesting points, but the film is still astounding, both in how natural the actors are, and the ideas it presents. At the very least, I promise it will make you think more than V.

Please give it a watch. You could do a lot worse.

Kid Nation!

So some stupid new reality show puts kids alone in a desert town for them to run themselves. Only they aren't alone, because there's the whole cameraman thing and what have you. Now we have accusations of child abuse and breaking labor laws, kids getting hurt, etc.

Here's the fun thing; according to CNN, some of the kids got sick after drinking bleach, which in turn worries the parents about the show, not only because their child is getting sick, but because they're afraid of a whole nation of people knowing they are so bad as parents they couldn't teach their child to not drink fucking bleach, which by the way, does not at all smell or taste like water.

This should be renamed from Kid Nation to "Human Natural Selection".

Greatest Hits?

CNN on the pros and cons of Greatest Hits discs. There's some really interesting stuff in this one; like how Cake refused to do the Greatest Hits thing, and how Metallica and AC/DC's refusal to do the same is part of the reason they won't be found on iTunes (which potentially destroys the integrity of their albums).

Personally, I am a fan of Greatest Hits CD's, and yet I'm not. For some bands like Queen and Boston, having their best songs in one place is fantastic, and can even save me money, especially when a band has a lot of albums out there. But with other high profile bands, the same doesn't seem to apply. I think The Beatles' One is an absolute waste, because it certainly isn't the absolute best of the band, even if that is not the intent. When it comes to The Who, I've seen at least two different compilations each with a few different tracks. Why does one have The Kids Are Alright, but another is missing Old Red Wine? When a band has too many good songs, then the hits disc loses its effectiveness.

I do also agree with bands that believe in the power of the album. While a great deal of my music listening in college came from classic rock compilations, I find myself leaning more towards albums as I have more money to spend on tunes.

Finally, it is no surprise (But a damn shame) that greatest hits discs are being somewhat ruined by modern artists who are pressured by labels to release them. By now, I suppose Britney has enough material to draw from. But Hilary Duff? Does she even have more than two albums out? A compilation is pretty worthless if 40% of its content comes from the same place. It probably means you don't have many genuine hits.

But hey, who is surprised to see the music industry ruining a good thing to suit their own means, while completely misunderstanding the concept behind it?

Links , for fun

So much to go over, mainly quick links for your perusal. Let's do it.

-Physics might be a great way to analyze economics. So let me get this straight; we write their software, build their computers, engineer their products. Now we do their own job better. Yet we'll never be the bosses with such horrible social skills. Oh well I guess.

-I know a lot of you like them internet memes. Here's one before it becomes a meme. Now you can actually brag about knowing of it a month after its existence, rather than a year like I see so many people do.

-Men need more Testosterone. Guess the war on the male gender continues on into the biological scope.

-Here are a few reasons why you might not sleep well. I'm guilty of 5 or so of the 6. No wonder I feel like shit every morning.

Will I change my habits? Hell no

A story

The Greystone Grill's corner meeting room was packed. Walking into the mass of polo wearing developers, I got tickets for two free drinks. I didn't believe they would work, until the waiter came back with my Harp. I expected awkward introductions and prodding questions, but instead I got friendly handshakes and little small talk. Everyone had good questions and answers during the presentation, which was a nice informational session reporting services. I got a free meal of bacon wrapped scallops. What a fantastic night that was.

The moral of this story? MSDN user groups are a fuck ton better than Linux User Groups

The real moral of this story? Don't compare user groups based on one meeting with each or you'll look like a tool. Sorry I didn't have anything better to write about today.

A moment

Ladies and gents, its been a long time this year since I've shed tears, but I did tonight.
300 wins. Thanks Tommy.

;)

So I guess this one makes it official?



Looks like I've got a new home.

Hold the Phone

Yeah just hold the phone. You're telling me there is an honest to goodness dance remix of Long Train Running on the Doobie Brothers Greatest Hits, and no one ever bothered to use this in DDR?

For shame.

In other news, if your future grandchildren ask you if you've ever known someone who was stuck in traffic on I-95 at midnight, you can tell them about The Cheat here.

Bigger post today/tomorrow coming soon, about one of the stupidest shows on the Discovery Channel.

If it keeps on raining, levee's going to break.

Is it still called a pie?

I tried a Subway pizza today. Once again I have to tell the company to fuck off.

I wasn't sure how the hell they made the pizzas, so I was afraid of ordering one for the longest time. Chalk that up to being a former Loyola student who ate at dining halls, where new menu items meant nothing more than window dressing, since no one knew how to make them. The process is all but complicated; the Subway folks pull a premade frozen pizza out of some corner of the backroom, throw it in the sub toaster, and put it in a box.

Oh, but you do get to pick your favorite "fresh" toppings. Joyous.

It isn't that I blame Subway for not making the pizza with fresh ingredients; mass produced is the only way to go for such a large company. It still bugs me when they consistently use their angle of fresher eating versus other fast food joints. Nothing about it is fresh, and the fact that I can pick my toppings makes it far from "personal". The fact that its .50 per topping means that a Subway pizza on the road to personal also comes with a personal reaming up the ass.

The only good news of this is that I found out there's a Quiznos not that far down the road. The extra dollar or two that their sandwiches cost compared to Subway is worth it. Hell, Subway's prices are so high now I can get a lunch special at the chinese take out place for less, and if I want to I could stretch it into two meals!

I think Subway changed their motto to "Eat Shit" and never told consumers.

Teaching

I'm going to try and teach myself rudimentary piano on a circa 1994 keyboard.

I don't expect to get far, but I need to play with some sort of instrument again. Been far too long if you ask me.

I think about piano, and I think of doing two distinct things at once.

Its like my mind is a single core CPU.

Will I be able to be the BeOS of virtuosos? Probably not.

I think I've got the perfect song to bang on repeatedly for hours.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednsday,

Death of Email?

There are many instances in which the older generations, the business leaders, etc. should have payed attention to what the "kids" are doing and embrace new technologies earlier. The RIAA and other music industry examples not embracing online distribution and DRM free content is the most obvious example.

Still, there are times when the "kids" are, well, kids, and that taking their trends too seriously is asking for trouble of its own. And then there are times when I'm not quite sure.

My topic of interest here comes from this article on CNET about how current trends among teenagers suggest that email usage is becoming less and less prevalent outside of business. Instead, it is social networking sites, instant messager, and texts that they are using to communicate with each other.

I'm at a crossroads here not because I'm debating whether this is true; it absolutely is. Rather, I'm not sure if we should embrace or worry about this kind of change.

First, for anyone in the working world, I ask you this - does your job use IM clients, Skype, or programs like Webex? I'm going to guess you will say yes to one of these?

Now I ask you - does your company use email daily? And I know the answer is going to be yes.

Second, for those in or recently out of college - how often do you check your email? I'm going to guess most of you will say "several times a day", but that is because you're all technophiles like me. But you would likely be like me, in that you knew lots of college folks who would answer "Once a day" or even "Once a week"

Next question for the same crowd - how often do you check Facebook. If you're still like me, the answer is once a week, maybe twice. Most people though would answer "several times a day".

This is the reality of things. The younger crowd just doesn't use email anymore, but something like Facebook is crucial. So says the article even - kids can't live without it even (back in my day...).

Why is this? I can't really say for sure. I suppose its that Facebook offers more information, and the ability to contact many people in many ways instantly, without dealing with contacts and mailing lists. It also allows for a bit more fun than a traditional email. There's the whole "Social" aspect to it: email is generally person to person. On Facebook, everyone can see what you're doing, and if "what you're doing" is communicating with tons of friends and taking pictures of cool places, it helps in the popularity game.

Here's the problem with assuming this, or IM or whatever, is going to replace email: while it is all communication in the end, it is very different kinds of communication. IM is informal and spontaneous. It is great for quick contact about unimportant issues or chitchat. That, or drama. The only thing equivalent in business is quick chats about small issues. Because of this, many jobs do use some sort if IM client. But it simply can't handle bigger issues of communication. As for pictures and wall postings, there's simply no need. If documents or simply documentation needs to be shared, there are also wikis. Social networking is more or less an extension of high school hallways and campus walkways, but it isn't the board room or even the water cooler.

Email has other advantages. It is universal. Everyone knows how to use it, and everyone can get to it. And while there are many email services to choose from, they all work together. The kids in the article bemoan having to deal with many social sites to contact people. There is simply no excuse for such bullshit when dealing with the bottom line of a real-deal company. As alluded to earlier, email is also better suited for bigger issues. You can write out a nice long email with many points, instructions, paragraphs, whatever is needed. It also forces the writer to put a little more thought into what they are saying than in an IM. Granted, it isn't on quite the scale as a handwritten letter, but I haven't ever read a professional email that didn't use proper grammar at the very least.

Email does have its issues. Spam can be a problem still these days, and even people who have an email client open all the time are prone to missing critical messages until much later. There are ways to combat these problems however (gmail alone solves both of them), and it doesn't even take much in the way of know-how.

If I had to make a choice on this one, then I wouldn't side with the kids. I would say that rather than listening to their "advice", we tell them to stop being so lazy and grow up a bit. Learn things like how to construct a real sentence, how to be patient, especially for non critical information, and to understand the right time and place to say certain things (ex: an email can beat a chat, but sometimes a phone call beats an email at work). Otherwise, who knows what these teens will do when it comes to getting real jobs.


Wake up your time is nearly over
No more the supernova
No action guaranteed

Just END!!

A fair CNN review of the last HP book, I guess. Here's my favorite part:

Rowling has attracted much criticism for her often clunky prose. However, for her millions of fans who have devoured the book just hours after its worldwide release, literary criticism is as irrelevant as a broken wand.

The quote is correct about two things. First, such criticism is irrelevant to the fans. That I know firsthand. And that's fine by me. My problem, the quintessential issue I have with these books, is the scond point; Rowling's prose is clunky and rather poor. And because of that, I can't get myself to read them. To the fans I know, that just doesn't cut it. And so they don't know to leave me alone.

I tried folks. I really did. I read the first book. I read halfway through the second. I found it attrocious and stopped. Admitting this to Potter fans is akin to getting the death sentence. How dare I not move on to the awesome third book, or other such rubbish. And again, my reason is always the same: I tried, and I didn't like it. But still they press on, as if the only way to make them happy is for me to punish myself with novels I don't want to read. Quite frankly, that is bullshit.

I don't even think I'm that bad in antagonizing HP fans either. If anyone has ever seen me diss the franchise, it is only immediately after they give me shit, or, as in a recent evening, after a whole flurry of shit comes at me from multiple directions. If you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone too. No harm, no foul. At least, that's the dream.

Here's an article I like from The Guardian about the Potter series. Agian, a good quote:

Here, from page 324 of The Order of the Phoenix, to give you a typical example, are six consecutive descriptions of the way people speak. "...said Snape maliciously," "... said Harry furiously", " ... he said glumly", "... said Hermione severely", "... said Ron indignantly", " ... said Hermione loftily". Do I need to explain why that is such second-rate writing?

I agree with this chap, and I'll tell you here and now that I can't finish a book with that kind of writing. I just can't. If you want to do so to enjoy the story and characters, that's cool. I won't think less of you for it (though I probably would if you considered the above good writing. Please don't :( ) . But I can't, and I won't. No harm, no foul. Right?

If there's one last thing that drives me nuts about the Potter mania, its the hypocrisy I sometimes see. I've often heard the explanation of "everyone likes it, so it must be good" when discussing them. These same people will then mock American Idol, Sex and the City, and other pieces of media that everyone loves, stating that "just because its popular doesn't mean it is quality".

I guess when they're actually in the group, it is a whole different matter. Pardon me for not understanding.

So go! Go back to Hogwarts for one last trip! I'm going to stay here in the Muggle world, reading my own guilty pleasures. You can even tell me how awesome it is when you're done! It will surely put a smile on my face to see you so happy.

Just don't lock me up in Azkhaban. Really, I have committed no crime.

36?

I just read a forum post that said

We should convert everything into base 12. Its divisible by 2, 3 and 4!

I'm kind of amazed. And I really want to do this now.

0o0

I just realized that "A Day in the Life" by the Beatles predates "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO in featuring a lyric about running down the street with the sound of someone panting in the background.

Fucking geniuses they are.

Moving in

The title of this post is misleading: I've been moved in for two weeks now. And yet my room is an absolute mess. My computer is on the floor by my bed, which is big enough to hold my mouse/keyboard/etc on one side while I sleep on the other. Its not a bad setup perse (my back will say differently in a month), but I really ought to get a desk. I'll save that for after my first round of bills.

Most importantly, I have to find a good storage space for my gaming collection. Its not the largest thing I've ever seen, but it is taking up a lot of space for a man with one closet. I managed to organize all the games themselves downstairs on a large, four level CD rack I inherited, but all the old consoles fill many a shoebox, most of which are on my floor. Throw in two bulky arcade sticks and three Guitar Hero controllers, and it just gets worse. And to think I still have the SNES back at home (which is currently in a custody battle between my brother and I).

Some other things since the move in:

- I got an almost mint copy of the Omega Virus, my favorite childhood boardgame, as a move in gift. It apparently sells for a good penny on eBay. I'm not planning on touching it.

- At any given time there is a cold keg of beer in my house, sitting in a keg fridge. This is both scary and amazing.

- My job is actually quite enjoyable from day to day. Its a little risky, but a little risk makes life that much more interesting. I can't wait to see what I can do.

- I'm officially a Microsoft Whore. All MSDN all the way at work. As usual, a healthy mix of both open and proprietary tools make my life a lot easier. Protip: MS actually gives developers a CD on how to combat Linux adoption. Stupid? Pathetic? Funny as hell? You decide.

- I've been playing a fuck ton of fighting games now that Gametap has decided to go apeshit and deliver every SNK classic known to man. Having King of Fighters 94 - 2003, Metal Slug 1-5, Last Blade 1 and 2, and Samurai Showdown all on one machine, legally, is something I never thought I would see. But see it every night when I wind down with some games. PS - Art of Fighting 3? Not so bad actually.

- I work in Glen Burnie. Second job in a row in which planes are flying over my head when I go home. Too bad I'm not working in top secret bunkers at the airport like my friends. When the world ends, I guess I'll be SOL? If I survive, I'll at least be able to take over a small town or something, what with all one can learn from playing Fallout.

- I can walk for ten minutes, pay $8 in the morning for the water taxi, and get to all the touristy areas of Baltimore all day long, for less than the price of a cab in traffic.

A shame that I have no need to get to the inner harbor, or Fell's Point during the afternoon

- Here's a game about Victorian women getting into face slapping competitions. You slap by drawing lines on the screen with your mouse.

Mouse drawings + Wiimote = 10,000 better of a game.

The Yuppie Chronicles: Starbucks

Alright. I'm finally moved into my new digs. Got myself a job. Everything is back on track.

So here I come again, to the blog.

I think at this point, with my job and residence and everything, I must officially label myself a yuppie. I like to think I'm one with some semblance of reason and control, but we'll see. At the very least, my new lot in life lets me observe some of the other interesting yuppie behaviors. I'm going to write them all down here as I see them.


We'll start with Starbucks. I hate the place as much as before, but I've grown to tolerate it at the very least. My coworker is a coffee fiend, and he's made the careful observation that if you know what you are doing, you can still order a decent drink from them. Plus when they're the only game in town (a common occurrance all over the place), you just have to learn to settle. I've learned a bit from him, and have come to enjoy his strange special order of triple skim latte somethings that he always orders and which always turn out tasty. That, and simple mochas.

But other folks, they blow my mind. Walking into the local shop this weekend, I saw all sorts of orders. Most of them were six words or more, and most had the word soy in them. They're just the most baffling sounding drinks, because all I can think of is why the hell they just can't have a regular cup of coffee, or at least a concoction with little in the way of fanciness. Its like adding a lime to a Corona, or Chinese businessmen mixing ice into a glass of wine. They're either destroying the simple flavors of good coffee, or adding things to a drink that's shitty to begin with.

And seriously, soy milk in your coffee? Unless you are lactose intolerant, I just don't see the point.

Wendy's

A very long time ago I wrote a rant about my dislike of Subway despite its huge market share in the U.S. In a hypocritical twist of fate, I came to enjoy Subway a lot more in my last year of college, mostly because the local franchise had some great deals that often made a meal at Subway criminally cheap compared to on campus food and other fast food, and I came to at least accept the quality of certain sandwiches.

Then I came home during Easter this year and spent ten bucks even on a meal at Subway, right around the time they decided to raise their prices. Ten dollars that could have gotten most or all of a meal at Panera Bread or Quiznos, both of which offer a much better meal. Hell, just name your favorite joint and you could eat for a ten spot. Subway officially became bullshit once again.

So I started revisiting the other fast food places I often ignored during senior year in favor of Subway's walking distance trip.

- Burger King has trumped out Wendy's and McD's for me. A selection of sickeningly fatty sandwiches and very good fries make it the perfect place to go when I go for fast food (which is sparingly these days). While every other company aims for healthy, BK has got my back with chicken fries and quad stackers (the latter of which I will never eat, but I like to know it is there just in case).

- Wendy's is damn close to BK. They prob. have the highest quality burger meal in terms of ingredients, and the fact that most of them come with veggies on them by default. A lack of tasty fries makes them a little harder to appreciate. However, we know no one goes to Wendy's for anything but the 99 cent menu, which still reigns supreme over all imitators. I like how diversified Wendy's menu is these days, as it offers something for everyone without shoving any particular item down your throat.

- I hate to sound like a walking cliche, but McDonald's has worn dangerously thin on me. Their burgers have nothing unique about them; I'm amazed that they still don't all come with lettuce. That means I have little incentive to go their over the competition. I suppose that's where they would come in and introduce me to their new, healthier options. To this I would tell them I don't come to their establishment to watch my weight. Throw in some of the most annoying advertisements on the television, and you have a company that is shooting themselves in the foot again and again.

- Quiznos is only marginally pricier now than Subway and in another league of tastiness. I don't think Subway has to worry about them too much in terms of competition, because I don't see it being as easy for Quiznos to expand. You can put a Subway in a dusty old basement if you want, which I think is part of why they have become so prevalent.

Lollers

I think this is the first time someone actually tried to call the Whaaaaaaaambulance.

Where you at?

Amp'd Mobile is filing for Chapter 11. Apparently about half their customers were late in paying their bills, which is a pretty easy way to lose some money.

Personally, I'm almost happy to see this. The only thing holding me back are the regular employees who may face job uncertainty. Amp'd Mobile was a horrible idea. The company execs claim they had great initial success thanks to marketing to MTV watching teens. Sounds great, but as a commenter in the aforementioned link observes, kids these days get everything free on the internet. Did Amp'd expect them to think they would have to pay for a cell phone too? I would also add that most kids have their parents pay their phone bill from middle school all the way to college these days, something I find highly pathetic, but also explains why a teen who purchased Amp'd on their own might not remember the bill.

Again, my regards to the employees just trying to find a job. But damn does it feel good to see rich old white guys because they know nothing of demographics once they leave the paper.

What?!?

Is Harry Potter like Tony Soprano? I have no fucking clue who paid this man to write.

Web 2. woah?

This handy article tells us that Web 2.0 is creating a sea of mediocrity. Sometimes I agree that this is quite accurate. As much as I've found cool stuff on Youtube, I feel that this is the norm rather than the exception with most things on there. There's too much stupid shit from too many stupid people, myself included.

But I fear this article takes the wrong approach to the argument. The fact that wikipedia is so popular has nothing to do with the fact that it can be run by all, but because its free and easy to use. Britannica requires a subscription to view all of its content, and I really don't feel like paying for it. And please don't tell me I'm being lazy and greedy; I'm still the type of person who would gladly go to the library to find books for my research. It was Britannica that decided to move all of their content online. If they're wallowing because of it, they should have realized there was still a demand for regular books.

Memorial Day

I'm not going to lie; I shed a bit of tears for Memorial Day. I always do. Even if I haven't lost anyone close in my life to combat, I've studied history and read the stories of too many veterans to live this day and not think of those who answered the call of duty.

But there was something else that almost made me cry. It can be summed up in this handy image.



If you're in my circle of friends, chances are you don't think there's a god. Sometimes I wish that wasn't the case, because every day I wonder if there is anything that can save this good nation.

Satruday Morning

What does a bored college graduate do on with his spare time while waiting to hear back from employers? For the first time in a long time, I channel surfed this morning, which leads to today's topic: Saturday Morning Cartoons.

We used to watch this shit all the time as children, and when I say "we", I mean anyone who grew up in the 60's-80's. For me, the 'toons of the 80's were classics, stuff I'd still rather watch even now than what usually gets aired on TV. What better way to waste one of two weekend mornings as a child than with mind rotting junk like GI Joe and Transformers?

Apparently a lot, because Saturday Morning is all but dead these days. I mean, it still apparently exists, but it looks so different than what I was used to as a kid that I dare not even consider it to be in the same league. I looked into the subject, and found the usual culprits; video games, cable television, and internet activities now dominate children's activities. Loss of ad revenue has lead to less quality programming. Yada Yada Yada

But there's more to it than just new forms of time killers. Saturday morning is dead thanks to the touchy feely, everyone is a winner world of bad parenting that seemed to sprout up when my brother was growing up. It seems that my favorite decade was a dark period, when children were raised on violence and shameless toy marketing on Saturday mornings. Of course stupid parents didn't realize this until after the supposed damage was done, and decided to change things. They wanted kids to watch educational programming. They realized that families might benefit from genuine quality time. And maybe they should get these kids outside (lot of good that one's doing).

So what are we left with? Discovery Kids for one, which seems to think educational cartoons are actually hip and clever. Oh wait- most of the programs look like reality shows. What better thing to replace brain rotting children's programming than with brain rotting adult programming. And don't forget ABC Kids, which is trying its goddamn hardest to make a mockery of classic Saturdays with a horrible facsimile of programming. Perhaps worst of all is the Secret Slumber Party courtesy of CBS. The last decade has done just about everything to reaffirm to us that its okay to ignore an entire gender on a national level, so long as that gender is not female. At least the 80's had Rainbow Bright and Gem right alongside The Thundercats! By the way, that one's sponsored by AOL. What progress we've made.

I'm sure there's bias coming out here, but I really don't see how this is any better than what the 20-somethings grew up with. My parents never had a problem with my brother's and I watching those old shows; in fact they love them too! (they almost went to see TMNT this year. Almost) They were like that because they never let the TV raise their children. It was a treat among schoolwork, outdoor play, and whatever we did back then. That seems to be a foreign concept to folks these days. Modern kids' programming will teach them, empower them, and occupy them for as long as its on. Did parents really push for this change to better their children, or simply to make their own lives even easier?

Give me Starscream or give me nothing.

Done

Four years and its done. We gave them hell.

Dear god did we give 'em hell.

The Time Warp

Dammit I've been caught in the Time Warp again. You know, that phase you get into in life every so often where time goes so fast, you stare at a textbook for a few moments and all of a sudden eight minutes has gone by. Its frustrating as hell; I'm not sure what it is about college, but its impossible for me to get into a routine. Simple things like checking baseball scores or my fantasy team at a fixed point in the day is something I can only do when holding down a job. College, even with its fixed classtimes, seems to keep me from doing this. Maybe its the many things I have to take care of during the day, or maybe I really do waste too much time. All I know is that it takes time away from the blog :(

Actually, I think I've figured it out; lack of sleep. You get to that point at the end of the semester where you're taking not one but two small naps a day, and when you're sitting on the computer you're too beat to do something as simple as type up a post. Again, I think that goes away once you get back into routine.

In other news, still no job. I'm crossing my fingers and I keep trying. I just wish some employers would be kind enough to reply to my initial emails. Am I really that crummy?

Wind Down

This weekend was Accepted Students weekend at the college. I have no idea how it went or what the incoming class looks like, though in the case of the latter it doesn't take much imagination to imagine the typical wide-eyed Loyola prince or princess. Instead I spent much of my weekend off campus, catching up with alumni friends, and actually going house hunting with one of them. I learned routes to areas in and around Baltimore that I have always known of, but never been to. I got a better understanding of how the city fits together, and what to expect of life when I'm out on my own. Combined with my recent job interviews, the last month has been like a small step towards the door that opens up to that so-called "Real World", and should I be hired by someone in the next month, the door is going to fly open, and there will be no turning around to go home.

Its curious to have these thoughts at the same time that teenagers not much younger than me are starting their own new chapter in life, the same chapter I'm just finishing up. All of the experience they've yet to have, while the things I'll soon encounter haven't even dawned on most of them. I talk to my 18 year old brother, and it never feels like we're that far apart in terms of maturity and responsibility. Yet there he is running around figuring out his high school graduation, while I'm looking to pay for the rent and get my own insurance. I've met many good freshman during this year, and as said year winds down I find myself spending my time around other seniors, people in the same boat as me. For those freshman, the end of spring requires no more hassle than to pick classes and find some girlfriends to live with. Meanwhile I know others looking to buy their own house.

Only a week a ago I visited the doctor for a physical, and in our discussion she mentioned how the difference between 18 and 22 may only be four years, but really it feels like ten. I laughed at the time, but already I feel I agree (though I'd add that it goes by like it was only two). And still, how wided eyed and excited I've been these last few weeks. The changes may be different, the responsibilities greater, but ultimately this was my own version of Accepted Students Weekend (let's call it "close to accepted" for now).

Funny how time works.

American Dad

I'm still of the opinion that Futurama is one of the best comedies of the last decade. Yes, its true that you have to be a real geek to understand all of the jokes, but even then they are often so clever as to make the braniest of the bunch have to think a bit to see what's going on. The "simpsons wannabe" was in truth anything but, and it still saddens me to see that it never got a second chance (I'm not waiting out for those rumored movies).

Now most Futurama fans would continue this tirade by complaining about how wrong it was Family Guy that got renewed instead. As much as I dislike that show, I can understand the reasoning - ratings numbers are very easy to read after all. Instead I'm going to ponder an even worse show; American Dad.

I just watched a full episode last week, and I'm left simply puzzled. There is so much wrong with the show I often wonder if it is serious. It takes the same setup as Family Guy - crazy father and talking nonhuman pal on wild adventures - and takes it even further by making the rest of the characters even more worthless. The jokes are the scraps of pop culture quibbles that weren't good enough for Family Guy, and the "crazy ignorant American" schtick that the show seemed to be based upon was hardly in effect that night. It quite literally feels like the dumping ground for all the bad ideas Seth McFarlane throws away, and despite what some TV critics might say, that's not at all better than the output from other shows.

Let's put it this way - American Dad reminds me of the show "That's my Bush", a show made from the South Park fellas for shits and giggles, not to shake the ratings world by storm. It got canceled, and somehow I believe that was the whole damn point. How American Dad avoided this fate is a mystery.

The Internet

Sometimes I wonder about the 'net. No doubt it is a powerful and world changing creation, simply due to how much faster it makes it to share information and communicate. But when I see things like Time magazine naming "You" the Person of the Year because of how people have empowered themselves over the Internet, I pause.

When the film Snakes on a Plane was released, every news outlet remarked about how Internet fans were gathering together to celebrate its creation and release, how they even got parts of the film to change based on their wants. The Snakes phenomenon was amazing.

Then no one actually went to see the film. Not even most of the people who were swept up in the hype. Because that's all it really was, hype. Something people played along with because it was fun, but in truth they really didn't give a shit. Snakes on the Plane was a joke (I still saw it).

Or how about Youtube? Apparently its one of the biggest tools to give the Power to the People on the 'net. This is certainly possible if Youtube was filled with morons. Sadly, 90% of the content on the site is like this . How is this power over anything?

Web 2.0. Apparently we'll all be changed by social networking. Because we all know that we can't contact close friends in person, or on the phone, or via IM. No, now have put it all on seven different sites so our pals can see it that many times. Every time I go on Facebook I see people joining clubs that no one will ever care about, not even them. Revolution indeed.

How many times have we seen online petitions, and how many have actually done anything. How many bloggers actually have enough power to warrant the attention (and party invites) they sometimes get?

Maybe its not big deal in the end.

Pink

At the liquor store, I walked past a curious display on the way to the register. It was there that I discovered one of the most blatant attempts at making a lot of money off of young (mostly underaged), stupid drinkers.

Meet P.I.N.K. Its vodka with caffeine and guarana infused in it, so you can stay up and drink even longer than usual.

Times are changing in the world of alcohol. A new wave of young drinkers, especially women drinkers, is flooding the market, and it has become the case where even a freshman in high school can get to booze if they really want to, and college guys are following the ladies in their drinking habits so that everyone is happy. In order to attract these consumers, companies have been creating all sorts of wilder (or if you're an older drinker, blashpemous) concoctions using fruit juice, chocolate, vanilla, and anything else sweet. It has lead to vodkas, rums, malt beverages and others that taste like kool-aid more than a spirit. This kind of alcohol has the double benefit of tasting like something they already know and like while still getting them hammered, as opposed to the strong, burning flavor of your average spirit. New marketing techniques are also needed in order to make this stuff sellable (you're not going to see 40 year olds running out to by banana schnapps).

So let's break down PINK and see just how clever it is. Most traditional spirits try to convey a look of class and sophistication, proudly presenting their quality and heritage, and always come in a glass bottle. The drink comes in a frosted plastic bottle (it certainly didn't look like glass from my view), with a sleek and minimalistic label. Its shape and color reminded me of a shampoo bottle. A blog comment I saw said "it looks and sounds like something that would sit next to a tween's lip gloss", and I tend to agree. Kids these days detest anything that looks old or outdated - "sleek and sexy" is the phrase of the times, and having it look like another familiar product is quite clever. PINK's bottle is much easier to abuse (and hide) than a fifth of Scotch, and since everything's made of plastic these days a teen would feel right at home with it (whereas an adult might take offense to a premium vodka not being bottled in a glass).

Which leads to my next point; PINK goes for $40 a bottle, more apparently in some areas. That puts it in the super premium price range with other popular names like Grey Goose. As the Goose has shown, it is very easy to dupe young folk into paying more for a hyped up name in hopes of obtaining quality and luxury. Any taste test on vodka I've ever read puts Grey Goose squarely in the middle, and often misses "top 10" lists, whereas as cheaper stuff like Smirnoff usually impresses for the price. PINK could put any hooch in that bottle and make people believe it is liquid diamond. That is not to say that it isn't good without trying it, but it would be hard to convince me that part of that price tag isn't name and image.

Finally, I don't really like the idea of caffeine infused liquor. If PINK really is worth its price, then there are two things we know about it. One, it shouldn't be mixed with anything, and probably shouldn't be done as shots either. Two, you shouldn't be drinking a lot of it at once. Yet the idea of caffeine in your drink is to help you stay up and drink more, and while that doesn't necessarily mean you have to drink more PINK, if the night goes on long enough a group of kids probably will finish the bottle in a night. That's good for sales, and disrespectful to the fine art of enjoying quality spirits. My friends and I would never demolish a whole bottle of Gentlemen Jack in a night, but I guess when you're young, reckless and full of disposable income you don't really care about such things.

Will PINK take off? I'm sure it will. Hell, I'm surprised no one thought of this sooner. Nevertheless, I'm getting quite bothered at what the drinking scene is becoming, as college and high schoolers encourage wasting quality liquor and skimping on cheap beer. In fifteen years you might walk into an Applebee's and be unable to buy a drink that doesn't taste like Kool Aid.

I'll let you know if I ever see it on campus.

Fantasy Baseball

A few years ago I dropped out of the Fantasy sports scene, and I thought it was for good. I felt it involved too much effort for little reward (we never played for money), and revolved around luck as much as skill. Plus it seemed to be dominating sports news, broadcasts and commentary. Real life games come first, fantasy always second. These days it is often hard to tell.

So what's the point of this post? I'm shamefully back in the game. One of my father's private baseball leagues ended up being short a team. With no one volunteering and their scheduled draft only days away, it was up to this washed up vet to come back to the game. My players have been drafted, and sooner or later it will be game time every day as I rotate pitchers and check the waivers.

So why the change? My aversion to fantasy sports hasn't vanished, but I suppose it has declined somewhat. In college there is so much going on that I can barely focus on my assignments, let alone baseball. After I graduate, I'll (hopefully) be in a much different daily routine as I begin working. I figured this would allow me more time and energy to focus on fantasy, either in the early morning or late at night. I also feel my baseball knowledge has sharply improved since past years, and the competitive male inside me wishes to flex that knowhow against the rest of the boys. Time will tell if this was a good choice or a bad mistake. but I know at the very least that this time, I'll actually look at my team at least once in the season (something I didn't do last time I did baseball. I literally played a season doing nothing, and was probably kicked out without me knowing). My pop will guarantee that.

300

300 is out, all of my good friends have seen it, and the decision is unanimous; the film kicks seven layers of ass. As I expected, many Internet critics, both professional and amateur, have different things to say about the movie. I'm rarely one to take offense when something I like gets slammed in a review. However much of the criticism towards 300 bugs the hell out of me because of how very ridiculous it all is. Allow me to go over some of the more annoying things I've heard in the last few days. Note that none of these are direct quotations, but are paraphrases of some general opinions.

"In this time of war, 300 seems like serious Bush Administration propoganda"

This one is the worst, because all you have to do to be sure is to do a bit of homework. The graphic novel for 300 was written in 1998. That means that a pro Bush piece was written.... in the Clinton years? How does that make sense? The real answer is that it is a film about the greatest soldiers to ever live partaking in grueling combat that just so happened to have been created in wartime. Clinton and Bush politics have zero influence on the nature and timing of 300 the novel or the movie. What did have an affect was the fact that Frank Miller had a very great success with Sin City, and it would be crazy not to further capitalize on his other works. Are people that desperate to find meaning in coincidence?

My brother made another good point; 300 is about a small, independent state defending against an overwhelming invasion. If anything it is anti-imperialist, and nothing like America's aggressive actions.

"300 is clearly racist and homophobic"

This one is tough. I guess you could see that in comparing the Spartans to the Persians. But it seems like a stretch to say that this is the movie where someone is making such bold statements, and instead is the reaction by an oversensitive America. Every group in the Persian army would have been likely found in the actual historical battle (though some Greeks probably would have been with them too). They also weren't viewed as incompetent. Maybe worse soldiers against the Spartans, but they still managed to win the initial battle and struck some fear into their opponents. As for Xerxes, the man thought he was a god. He had piercings all over. Clearly this is a deranged man. That's how I viewed him - crazy, but not gay. Not with all those women he had! The Persians were a massive army from all over the world. This was reflected in their look and numbers, end of story. Maybe they could have done a better job, but again, people are looking far too deep into things in order to satisfy themselves.

"The movie is not historically accurate blah blah blah"

The worst part about this one is that it always comes from people who knew it wouldn't be accurate before they went to see the film. So what point do they have in bemoaning something they were prepared for? Simply to flex their intellectual muscles in front of the Internet crowds. We get that your smart. No one cares.

"The film has no anti-war message, etc"

I'm getting sick of every critic grasping for something anti-war in action films, or for some deep political message in modern film of any genre. I've read reviews for children's movies where they seem to find some messages to ponder (and most of the time they're right!) I don't see why an action film about an epic Greek battle can't revel in themes of glory and resistance. Furthermore, it seems that every film made these days won't rest until it makes you think "man, I knew Bush was dumb, but I didn't know he was an idiot too!" I'm sick of all the not so subtle messages being thrown in my face every time I rent a DVD. I can think for myself Hollywood, so stop pushing whatever agendas you have onto me. Or in the case of 300, I won't think, but partake in a kickass action flick.

The moral of this story? Liberals are as bad as conservatives, though they won't tell you that. They seem to think that because they are the opposition, they're also the ones in the right. But they don't have the right answer, and they're not at all about equality and acceptance for all. It becomes more and more obvious that these folks try to attract the lower class and the common man so they can use a bit of pseudo intellectualism and persuade them to whatever agendas and bullshit they want. And when they see something that doesn't adhere to their strict rules, then its time for some haughty insults and condescension. In the case of 300, the film doesn't make everyone happy or treat everyone equally, and it doesn't try to mess with modern times in its attempt to look at more basic and ancient concepts. Apparently that is a bad thing.

Screw you guys, I'm buying the collector's DVD.

Something

Today is the day that Playstation Home was announced, and everyone is drooling like a dog over it. I'm seeing pictures and reports from rockstar game "journalists", and I'm realizing one of the more mature, interesting events of the year is becoming its own mini-E3. I just beat God of War a few days ago, and now I finally know what all the fuss was about.

Its so sad. Sad because I can't seem to stop myself from getting into a severe gaming depression. And I don't know if its me being a crumudgeon, or if this industry is really going to shit.

I keep telling myself its the latter. I reread that first paragraph, and I realize just how low our standards as gamers are. Home is essentially Animal Crossing crossed with Second Life, for free. And this, not any sort of game, is supposed to make me salivate for a Playstation 3. Someone wiser than me looked at Sony's GDC keynote and said it looked like Phil Harrison walked into a meeting and asked what is popular with the kids these days, then someone said "Mii's, gamerscores and Myspace", and Phil replied "do it". Can they really not see all those trends they're throwing around?

But then again, this is the same industry that gave GoTY nods to God of War, a game that tells us in its commentary how much the developers wanted to give their enemies gene nipples and genitalia. A game that set itself up for three sequels before it was even released. And I'm sure there are plenty of schmucks out there that will line up for each one of them, that listened to those developer comments and thought, "ah nipples, quite artistic. Jaffe is a man of genius!"

It takes nothing to get gamers and bloggers and journalists blowing a load. Make it indie, make it 2d, make it polished, and they'll slobber all over you. Doesn't matter how good it is, doesn't matter if it piles on heaps of bullshit so that the game's more movie than game, more work than play. They want publishers to whore out innovation until its stale as shit. They want multiplayer in places it doesn't belong.

And they all think they're so damn important, when to the rest of the world, we're still so much of a joke.

I need to find a few good games to soak myself in. Something older, something hard but not frustrating. Something to get away from it all.

Chart Stopping

Cnn on Taylor Hicks and his plummet on the album charts. The usual PR fluff from RIAA cronies, who remain confident in their made up star. It drives me nuts to see articles of this sort. It isn't difficult at all to see why Hicks isn't succeeding; he's a glorified karaoke singer with a silly schtick to his act. He's really not that good at what he does, certainly not to be called "American Idol", and like so many Idols before him he's faded faster than he started. Its quite telling to see that the after Kelly Clarkson, the most consistent and successful Idol singers are some of the losers, people with some real talent that simply didn't cut it in the eyes of a fickle television audience. Idol the show might be great at pulling in the ratings with its failures and its later drama, but damn the title, it is not effective at creating real talent. So let's stop worrying about it when it doesn't.

Flyleaf

Whenever I'm driving, the rock stations seem to be infatuated with this new band called Flyleaf. I think this is more strong evidence that the music industry doesn't pick the next big hit by talent, but by what they want people to enjoy.

Their big single right now, "Falling Alive", begins with a vocalist that sounds so much like Avril Lavigne that I thought it was her until I heard differently. Seriously, the resemblence is uncanny. Each verse of lyrics is followed by a really slow, really generic guitar riff that sounds like it should be played about twice as fast for it to sound decent. This goes on and on until the chorus, in which our Avil-alike begins to moan and wail like a broken siren, or maybe a dying quail. The point is it doesn't sound good.

So we have a band that can be distilled into a heaveier, angstier Avril and her brand cronies. It makes perfect sense why this band would be hyped up; it has a similar sound to something else formerly popular, but with enough of a twist to throw people off. Why look for something new and good when a label can find a good retread and repackage it?

What doesn't make sense is how they can do this time and again and not enough people notice it.

In other music news, I bought the new Who album for my father during Christmas, and I think I'm listening to it more than he is. Its nothing like their old blend of rock, but the slower, almost folkier style feels right for these aging rockers, and is catchy for its own reasons. I don't think I've had a modern song stuck in my head quite like Endless Wire has been for the last month.

Seagrams

Is it wrong to drink spirits that come from a plastic bottle? That's the general rule among the people I know, and I tend to follow it myself, but there comes a point where you realize that drunk people are using your bottle of Jim Beam Black or Vat 69 with a can of Coke, and suddenly you have no fine liquor in the house. So when a plastic bottle of Seagram's 7 just happens to be on sale, I think the mixers I know will survive just fine. Really they have no choice :)

Anyway, while at the store I started thinking about something; just who the hell makes Seagram's products? The name can be found on well known whiskeys and gin, as well as a few vodkas and even ginger ale. Usually a distillery focuses on just one spirit (thought they may make various flavors and qualities), but Seagram's has its name on several disjoint products. Could one honest to goodness company be responsible for all of these drinks? I decided to do some research on the legendary brand, which I guess just goes to show you how young I am.

My results are far more mysterious than I imagined they would be. Wikipedia gives a history of the company and how they rose to greatness in post-Prohibition North America, eventually getting ridiculous in the modern decades as they tried to scoop up everything from oil companies to entertainment divisions. As of today, it looks as if multiple alcohol conglomerates scooped up rights to the brands they acquired, while Coke and Pepsi grabbed non-alcoholic brands. A fascinating look at the rise and fall of Seagram's, but it still doesn't answer my question; were they an older version of Diaego or Pernod Ricard, scooping up little guys to add to their collection, or did the Seagram's Distillery(ies) originally make all the stuff with their name on it?

I wasn't finding much luck elsewhere. There seems to be no official site for Seagrams' whiskey, either Seven Crown or Vo. A search of Everything2 coughed up the URL seagrams7.com, but that now points to thebar.com, Diaego's massive drink supersite which doesn't even list any Seagram drinks (outside of Crown Royal).

Time for a close look at the bottle. Seems that the smaller Diaego owned company that actually makes the juice now is called the 7 Crown Distilling Company. Googling this brings up nothing of great worth. Finally, it was a desperate attempt to type segrams.com, which lead to Pernod Ricard (which owns the Gin).

So I suppose my search failed. Seagram's today seems to exemplify the entire wines and spirits industry; despite the old fashioned label that boasts some vintage heritage, just about every drink you can find in the store is owned by some gigantic mega-consortium or holding company. They may still actually make it in some single building distillery, but chances are a lot of them are massed produced in who knows what area of the world, hopefully following a traditional recipe.

At the very least I managed to discover what Seven Crown is made of. Looks like a pretty good drink for a blend, with actual whiskeys rather than a lot of grain neutral spirits put in as filler. Though these days, who can you trust?

Edgy Eft is here! For a while!

Apparently Ubuntu Edgy Eft has been out since October? I'm really on the slow take here. Anyway, it turns out my Dapper Drake install was so cluttered with stuff that i didn't even have enough disk space to upgrade. So after a fresh install of Dapper and an upgrade to Edgy, I'm back in business. Here's something of a mini review Practical Linux Guy (that's me).

For the most part, Edgy is not the leap that we saw from Breezy Badger to Dapper. Instead it looks like the Ubuntu crew took it upon themselves to clean things up a bit more where it counts and give the base install the important tools a user would need. For example, the Applications toolbar is really getting perfected, the "Accessories" section has Archive Manager there by default, as well as a handy Disk Analyzer as well (this is in addition to the calculator, dictionary and screenshot programs already there before). The music section now also has a good version of Rhythmbox as well (was that there before?).

The Places toolbar got some major changes, allowing you to get to all of your mounted drives much easier than in the past with a simple option called "Computer" that gives you all the mounts. Good stuff, but the only problem is they got rid of the "Disks" option that was under the Admin options! This was a quick and easy way to check my free disk space (which is important considering how much I chewed up). There are other ways, but I don't see why this one had to go away.

Finally, the System toolbar is mostly the same, with a (possibly) new options for the look and feel of the GUI and extra account options.

All in all, aside from my Disks gripe, the tweaks are nice, and make it easier to get to things that the average user needs.

A few GUI tweaks though, good ones too! There's a nice little button in the right corner for logging out that's apparently been there since Dapper, but never showed up before for me (because I fucked around with XGL and Gnome before). It also seems that more apps in Edgy minimize to taskbar icons in the right corner, which I quite like (I hate it in XP, but here it feels less invasive).

Oh, and no more sound issues with flash and firefox. I've got Strong Bad emails to catch up with.

The bad

- Edgy seems a bit more sluggish than Dapper, and I'm not sure if its the apps I'm running or Edgy itself. I hope its not my hardware - in any case its not like its horrible, just not as snappy as I remember in the past.

- Default option is for two virtual desktops instead of four. Why is this?

Conclusion: Dapper Drake was fantastic for me, and allowed me to do a lot of fun hacking. It was such a solid release that I hate to leave from it, but the bottom line is that Edgy is necessary to easily get newer versions of your favorite apps (I'm sorry if I don't fucking build everything from source). Already I was able to get a better version of Banshee that supports all the plugins I wanted, so in the end it was all worth it. I'll play around with it some more and see if anything else good or bad happens. Also later I'll do separate impressions of Banshee and the new version of GAIM.

Food

I've been thinking a lot about food lately. Or rather, how food is marketed to us. It makes me realize that not only am I getting better at understanding the way of the marketer, but it makes me sad to think that I fell for some of this shit for so many years.

Here's a starter example; wild berries. We've got "wild cherry" sodas, and "wild blueberries" in our muffins. What the hell do they mean by wild? Are they telling me that this flavor is "wild and extreme?". Cherry Coke has been around since the 50's - it isn't some new flavor phenomenon. Plus I don't see what could ever be extreme about baked goods. But maybe they really mean wild as in "berries grown in the wild". Again, bullshit - we don't even get real sugar in our colas. There's no convincing me that our cherry flavoring is coming from somewhere other than a factory in New Jersey. Plus there's no way that mass produced muffins are being made after people mosey into the fields by the woods picking berries that may not even be safe. Its the farm or the hydroponics plant, no question.

Then there's the ethnic slant. Apparently Americans have to be convinced that on every corner in Europeland there's a fancy little cafe with elegant fare that we wouldn't dare concoct on our own (because the English totally don't buy generic verision goods at Tesco all the time). Thus the explosion of "bistro blend" on every kind of food. I didn't know that "bistro" food meant sprinkling olive oil or sun dried tomatoes and maybe some fancier bread. Nothing beats consuming the same food as before with 10x more garlic in it.

Its the same with the East. Notice how everyone is in on the "Asian salads" and "Asian Veggies". These Oriental dishes are the same vegetables Americans have been eating for years, like fucking peas and carrots, with the single addition of mandarin oranges or some sort of orange glaze. Maybe some almonds too. Remember people - its Mandarin. You can't get more authentic than that.

How about the popular trend of "down to earth" products. Target sells fancier versions of all our favorite snack foods under the name of "Archer Farms", in order to convince us that this is all coming from some small secluded group of farmers somewhere in the midwest that just so happens to have the ability to supply every Target in America with Rosemary Soy Crisps. Give me a break. I'm also reminded of Seattle's Best coffee, which at first glance seems like a smaller, more authentic version of the sludge Starbucks sells- until you know that Starbucks bought them a while back.

I could go on - and maybe I will later when I remember a few more examples. I just wish they'd stop telling me that everything I'm eating is homegrown and made with the finest ingredients. I know I'm eating unhealthy, preservative jacked junk. I'm cool with that. Kay?

24 is pissing me off

Yes, I'm man enough to admit it; 24 season 6 is greatly disappointing me. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Commercials. There's no way I can prove it, but I know that this season is crammed with way many more ads than in past seasons. I just watched the first two seasons on DVD with my dad, and I remember the commercial breaks being much farther apart. Its hard to really get into any given episode when you're getting cut off so quickly. And whatever happened to those commercial free season premieres?

2) Wayne Palmer: Our new president is definitely not his brother. David Palmer was always the man in charge, and while he used his advisers well, it wasn't easy to pull his strings. Wayne on the other hand feels so damn wooden. The man makes his speeches with no emotion, and he doesn't seem able to make any decisions unless an advisor thought of it for him. Maybe this is the way he's meant to be, but I expected the man I saw in season 5 to be a lot tougher. Instead I'll have to watch as Tom Lennox pushes him into making our nation a police state. I predict our characters get into many complications due to legislations passed within the next few hours of the show.

3) Mundane. Its looks like we're getting into a pattern where the coming attractions for next week's episode shows some juicy scenes, all of which occur in the last 5 minutes so they can tease you again. Meanwhile the rest of the episode is just boring filler. A couple of twists or surprises, nothing tense or engaging, and a whole lot of talk about nothing. Of course this is quite easy to do with such small chunks of show between the commercials.

At this rate its no wonder that Heroes is beating it out each week. Note that this is not going to make me watch that show instead; I'm a Bauer fan for life, we're just going through some tough times right now. I simply hope things get back into shape before the season's end. This is not the final season of 24 by far, but who knows if this is the start of the decline after a spectacular season 5.

The March of Idiots

Back when I was in early high school, when I was starting to actually read the newspaper instead of skimming over the headlines, I noticed an article about communion parties, and how children partaking in the blessed Sacrament were being thrown lavish celebrations that were more carnival than sacred. The article finished the father, dancing and a little tipsy, exclaiming that sometimes he had to remember what this party was all for.

Sometime in my college years, I remember reading two other articles. One was about extraordinary cell phone bills that parents were paying because their children constantly demanded new phones and racked up insane amounts of minutes and text messages used. All these folks could say was "I don't know how I'm going to afford all of this!", instead of doing the one thing in their power; punishing kids who misused their phone and not buying new ones every six months. This was followed by the second story on the elaborate vacations and trips that high school and even middle school students are able to go on these days, some of them longer and more exotic than some people's honeymoon. Again, parents couldn't believe how much they were shelling out, this time adding that "it leaves no money for me and my wife!". Except for there would be if they would just say no, and maybe even spend some on themselves.

The march of idiocy continues. Now we can read about how expensive birthday parties are. I can't take this anymore. Parents, don't tell me it feels like a race, and you'll fail if you don't match the rest of the block. None of that competition would ever start if you all just calmed down. More important is that you wouldn't have to feel bad if you taught your child the value of things in the world and didn't constantly spoil them. They wouldn't be disappointed in a lesser party if they understood the meaning and the generosity behind what they are given. I went to plenty of b-day parties in my younger age that were far more extravagant than my own. I liked mine better because it was with my own small group of friends, and when it was at my home, we could do whatever the hell we wanted (meaning video games, swings, sports). It wasn't about spending the night at FAO Schwartz; it was about celebrating an important day with the ones closest to you. That and ice cream cake.

Its just amazing to not only see this trend, but to see that its a serious issue to some. Did it ever occur to these folks that maybe they could just stop spending and realize just how ridiculous their peers are getting? Like the article even says, these children are being picked up by limo's; some people never got that until their wedding. So either people can't see this absurdity (which is sad), or they choose not to do anything about it(almost as bad).

And hell, when did this actually happen. Ten years ago it was 1997 and I was just 12 years old. Back then the ideal birthday party was a night at the roller rink or a kickass sleepover. Somehow this has evolved into limos. Oh, and the boys are getting birthday blowjobs as well. So much change, so much stupidity in such a short amount of time. No 22 year old should feel like they're already getting old.

Damn kids.