The Road Ahead

I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America. And to our capitalist economy. Therefore, I am offended by Michael Moore's new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story.

To be completely fair, I am not mad at Moore for making a documentary. He has every right to voice his opinion. I am mad at him because, like all of his other movies, will most likely be riddled with left wing, socialist propaganda. Take Sicko for instance, the entire documentary put Canadian Health Care in such a bright shiny light that it blinded people to the downsides it caused. A socialist system will not help the people, in health care or economic matters.

First off, Moore has already made it clear in the trailer for the movie that he is going after the banks. And why not? The banks gave out home loans to citizens who couldn't afford them and so on, so why not attack them? Because the bankers didn't cause this problem.

It was the left wing politicians pushing a socialist agenda, the idea that everyone needs a good home to own, who pushed banks into giving loans out to people who either couldn't or had not intention of paying them back. Socialists like Barney Frank. Will Moore shed light on this in his documentary? Probably not. Like everything else, it will be the Right Wings faults.

So let me ask this, why is it that when a Republican speaks out, it's hate speak. But when a democrat speaks out it's free speech?

Doc Out.

Coming Soon to Gameobserver.com

Larry Giver (The Fanboy) and I have been talking for the last couple of days about doing something pretty cool for Gameobserver. We're thinking of making a podcast. I suppose that might be a bit cliche, but I like the idea. I downloaded audacity and dusted off my old voice acting mic and got to work on some samples. I'll upload them later today, I'm at work right now and nowhere near my laptop. Just a heads up to anyone who's interested.

Doc out for now.

***

Best thing I heard so far today: "Only you, Farva, can make a dark man blush."

Hobo-Man!

Here's a little song I wrote today. It's to the tune of the Spider-Man theme song!

Hobo-man, Hobo-man.
Gets his lunch from a garbage can.
Lives in a box of cardboard,
Right outside the liquor store.
Look out! Here comes Hobo-Man!

Hobo-Man, Hobo-Man!
Ain't clean shaved, has a farmer's tan.
He just peed on the bus,
If you complain, he'll just cuss.
Look out! Here comes Hobo-Man!

Hobo-Man, Hobo-Man!
We ignore him, best we can.
His pleas for change, we ignore.
Isn't that what Welfare's for?
Look out! Here comes Hobo-Man!

Hobo-Man, Hobo-Man!
Under newspaper in the tram.
Talks to himself with great ease.
He has split personalities.
Look out! Here comes Hobo-Man!

Doc Out.

A Bad Month for Celebrities

I am the most hypocritical person on the planet right now. Here's why.

A few days ago, I learned that Jacko died. I have done everything in my power since then to make jokes about the situation. Much to the chagrin of my, "friends," on Facebook.

Yesterday, I learned that reknowned pitchman, Billy Mays, had died. I made one joke (in good humor) and will leave it at that. Much to the chagrin of my, "friends," on Facebook.

For Jacko, they are displeased with the fact that I am disrespecting the dead. They are happy to be able to jump on the hype train that is his passing. More than half of the people that I have seen, "lamenting," his death couldn't even name one of his songs outside of Thriller. And when they see people like me who point out the fact that Michael Jackson, the idol and music genius, died many years ago to make way for Jacko the white female child molestor; they somehow feel the need to point out my inadequacies.

But then they find out that I am actually honoring Billy Mays, and they blow their tops all over again. "Geez, man. You didn't have any respect for MJ's passing, why Billy Mays?"

Well, for two reasons. While I consider Jacko's death to be when he decided to become a plastic cyborg, I refuse to lament him (even from the good old days) because he made the choice to become a freak of nature with a thing for boys younger than his most recent nose job. You can say whatever you want about his bad childhood. But he had a million times better childhood than most kids in America, so where is the basis for his whining about it?

Billy Mays, on the other hand, was a decent man. I didn't know much about him other than he convinced me to buy Oxi-Clean once, and that his commercials were fun to listen to. And anyone that can make commercials entertaining is pretty cool in my book. But like I said, I made one joke in good humor, and that's all I plan to say about Billy Mays. I respected him a lot more than Jacko (which was not at all).

So there you have it. I had no respect for Jacko when he was alive, where would it come from just because he died?

Doc out.

The Canadian Health Care System, as described by a Canadian.

I was flipping through some of my favorite updating sites earlier this morning. At www.licd.com home of the webcomic, Least I Could Do, Ryan Sohmer (The creator of the comic) wrote this in the feed below the comic. It is a unabashed and unbiased review of the Canadian Healthcare Plan that President Obama hopes to emulate.

Here's a link to the feed- www.licd.com.

Be sure to head over there soon, so you don't miss it. It's titled, Canadian Health Care.

I'm half French Canadian, and my aunt is a doctor. Two years ago, she gave me a description of the Canadian Health Care plan that was so similar to Sohmer's that I wondered if they hadn't met and discussed it over coffee or something (both are from Quebec). Free Med Care doesn't mean jack shit if you have to pay for arbitrary little things like Doctors' Notes (or as I called them in High School, Get out of Jail Free Cards) and have to be patient with a serious ailment for five hours while you wait for the jackhole hypochondriac who made it in before you to get his stubbed toe diagnosis.

If Obama has his way, we might as well start calling them Get Out of Jail for a Hamilton cards.

Doc Out.

Why So Mysterious?

I love how everyone and their dog is looking at that concept art for the new Zelda game and overanalyzing it, as if it's got hidden meanings in it like a Cloverfield poster or a viral website for the Dark Knight or something. I figured out what the poster really is, folks, and I'm ready to share this priviledged information with you.

It's a picture of Link, standing in front of some weird person we won't know the identity of until the game gets closer and Nintendo gives us more detail.

However, there is one thing to take notice. Link's shield is in his left hand, meaning his right hand is going to wield the sword again, meaning this is going to have Wii Motion Plus in it. But that's really the only thing you could get out of that poster as far as hidden meanings go. I doubt Nintendo even thought that was going to be a secret, let alone one that they would want to secretly reveal in a promotional concept art poster.

So lets all stop playing Columbo here. It's just the kid in the tunic. In front of the weird guy.

Thats it.

Doc Out

E3 Hangover

E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, was pretty outstanding this year. Getting back to the glitz and glamour that it tried to abandon last year. I think that it's safe to say that everytime Nintendo takes a step forward, they take three steps back. 3 new Mario games, a hint at a new Zelda, and a Metroid game made by Team Ninja are all awesome, but then they talk about things like Demo Play that look to ruin the experience of all of those games as if that's what we all want. And the vitality sensor? Really Nintendo, do we even matter to you anymore?

Sony wasn't much better. The PSP Go is going to be a failure. And this isn't the mindless rant of someone who hates Sony. This is the rant of a man who understands that when you have one failing handheld in the market and you make another that doesn't even support the games that your first failed handheld uses, you fail as a company. Miserably. The God of War demo was supposed to blow me away, but with the shortness of it, and the lack of a more than memorable moment, I just felt like I was watching someone play the first one, only it was prettier. And Final Fantasy XIV? I think that's going to be the shortest time an exclusive has sold out to another company ever. PS3's motion control rod or whatever didn't intrigue me in the slightest, because I've seen it already. It's called the Wii.

Microsoft is the company that keeps on rocking, strangely. With a new Raiden themed Metal Gear coming it's way and all of their other, badass announcements, Microsoft is the only company that really put on a good show this year. I liked it, and am looking forward to it all except Natal, for similar reasons as Sony's Dildos (as I call them). I've seen it before, and it didn't impress me then.

Keep your eyes on the future. We've been in this generation for 3 years. By next E3, don't be surprised if you start hearing information on X720 or PS4, or Wii Video Games for Casual People 2!

I Knew There was a Conspiracy!

Ever wonder where Disney keeps getting all the new toolboxes for their stupid shows? The Onion reveals!

Movies and Maps!

First off, I got an email from a reader who wanted me to put a link in my blog to his website. It's a tourist info site for the city of London, and after looking it over myself, I will definitely admit that it's pretty neat. It gives you a Google style map of the city, with certain historical landmarks marked directly on their corresponding location on the map. The coolest part is that you can click on these landmarks, and an audio file describing the landmark will start playing, giving you a brief description. You can also download the audio files for a small fee. It's perfect for if you are planning a vacation in London, or if you're doing a school project on the area. Take a look-see.

The link is www.ComeAwayWithMe.co.uk/LondonAudioGuide


On another note, I went and saw Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. A couple of colon movies (Please forgive the horrible pun).

NatM was very funny. Ben Stiller is really good at family comedies, and he proves it again here. It doesn't quite shine as well as the first one, but there are definitely some good laughs to be had, even for the adults. My main problems with the movie stemmed from great talent being completely wasted. Robin Williams is in the movie three times. Brad Garrett, less. Heck, Clint Howard got more screen time than Brad Garrett. Clint Howard! A lot of the characters from the first movie are downplayed to make room for a whole lot of new ones this go around, and it's kind of bad for the movie.

Good new characters, like General Custer and Amelia Earhart make up for it in spades, as well as the Bobble Head Einsteins (Played by Eugene Levy). And all in all, the movie may not be extremely exciting until there's only a half hour to go, but that last half an hour has enough action to make up for it. Also, props to whoever decided to put Amy Adams in aviator pants. That guy deserves a Bud Light: Real Men of Genius commercial.

Wolverine was also kick ass. I only have a few things to say about this as far as what I disliked. First off, who did the special effects? There's one scene where Wolverine walks away from an explosion and it looks like someone photoshopped the explosion in behind him. Second off...Deadpool had better be much different in his own movie than he turns out to be in this one. While it was a good final confrontation for Wolverine and Sabretooth...it's not really Deadpool and they better not keep him that way. Otherwise, the movie rocked my effing socks off. Not quite Star Trek or Dark Knight good...but one of the best movies of the summer, guaranteed.

Doc out (again)

Yawn

Currently it's a quarter after three in the morning here in scenic Chamberlain/Oacoma. I'm sitting behind the front desk at a slightly prestegious hotel and resort, awaiting for the magic hour of seven o'clock to roll around. Sleeping sounds like a lot of fun right now, but I'd say the biggest draw to get home would be not having to deal with Michael anymore. He's the porter on duty with me tonight, and he's a bit annoying. Mainly because I am deaf, and would have trouble discerning his accent even if he was speaking loud enough for me to hear him at all (which he isn't). While I am writing this post, I am nodding slowly and saying, "Yes, sure, yeah," a bunch of times hoping those are the right things to respond with to whatever the hell it is he's saying. I have informed him of my hearing loss, and reminded him too. He just seems to have confidence issues and doesn't speak much louder than a murmur. Sunlight is a long ways away.

Doc out.

Movies I'm Excited For

I am incredibly excited for two movies that will be releasing in the year or so. The first is “A Christmas Carol.” It is a computer animated movie using motion capture technology, in the vein of “The Polar Express,” and “Beowulf.” The reason for doing this is so the casting directors can justly turn Jim Carrey into the roles of Ebenezer Scrooge and the three spirits of Christmas without having to waste a lot of time on different make up for the actor. There is only one little clip so far, and it already looks promising. Not to mention that Jim Carrey is my favorite actor, and has been since I was a young child. He’s my idol, and if I can reach even half of what he is, in terms of success and accomplishment, then I will be extremely happy with my life.

The next movie I am excited for is “M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender,” (which I believe will be shortened simply to “The Last Airbender” upon release). It’s an adaptation of a children’s cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon. For a children’s cartoon, however, the story was greatly complex, the characters were well written and had real emotions and moral dilemmas, and the premise itself was completely outstanding. Unlike most, I am not worried about M. Night Shyamalan directing, because this is a movie he is making for his children, so he will be keeping it as close to the cartoon as possible. The story had enough twists in it to cover his need for twists without him having to alter the ending anyway. The fact that he brought in new talent for the title character is a plus, meaning rather than just go with some Hollywood teeny bopper who would have probably raked in more money at the initial box office, he held actual casting calls in high schools, and found a young man named Noah Ringer from Texas. Noah has never been in a movie before, probably never dreamed he would have the opportunity. And now here he is, the main character in one of the biggest movies of 2010. That’s really saying something about the commitment to the source material that Mr. Shyamalan has.

Funny how the only image I could find of Jim Carreys' Scrooge model has some guys reflection in it. It looks like a watermark, does it not?

Doc out.

Another Big Issue Deal.

I was thinking about racism, and its apparent, if not reprehensible, role in our society. Racism exists on multiple platforms. It’s no longer a hatred reserved and implemented by Caucasians only. The white male is very much the largest minority in America. It’s a weird thing to say considering that most of the people in power in this country happen to be Caucasian, but that isn’t the point I’m making. Barrack Obama proved that this country isn’t racist enough to prevent a colored person from becoming the most powerful man in the country, so while others may try to use this as an argument and say that the African-Americans are prevented from advancing in society, I say that simply isn’t true, and our president is proof. Whether or not I am a fan of President Obama, which I’m not.

What I mean by the Caucasian male being the largest minority is this. Dave Chappelle and Carlos Mencia are to stand up comics, African and Hispanic respectively. And they utilize the same mechanics in their jokes and skits on television. They degrade their own people, as well as white people, and anyone else. They play on discriminations and make crude and rude jokes that should be viewed as extremely offensive. A white man, Michael Richards, was doing stand up, and tried to go for some shock jokes in the vein of Chappelle and Mencia, and said the word Nigger multiple times. He did not say it in any less offensive manner than Chappelle or Mencia, yet he was punished and ridiculed immensely for it. Why? Because he is white. That’s it, the only reason.

In Living Color was a skit show run by the Wayans brothers (who are African American). One skit they performed made fun of Star Trek, which they called “The Wrath of Farrakhan.” In it, Farrakhan boards the USS Enterprise, and convinces the rest of the crew to mutiny against Captain Kirk, portrayed by Jim Carrey. At one point, Farrakhan addresses Uhura, telling her that, “All I can see of you is the back of your nappy wig.” This apparently is not offensive, because it was stated by a black person. Fast forward a few years, and Don Imus, a white radio broadcaster, makes the comment, “Nappy headed hoes.” He is fired from his job, and like Richards, publicly ridiculed for it. How is this ok? Why are we allowing this to happen.

This wouldn’t even be an issue in my mind if white people could retaliate in any manner. But for some reason we do not get the rights do declare that something is racist to a white person. There are just as many stereotypes against the white male (white female gets out of it for the sole fact that they can play their own race card, having been greatly discriminated in the past as well). For example, that we are all geeks who can’t play basketball, can’t dance, and by default, just aren‘t very cool. There are pictures online of white people dressed up in a gangster style, and the caption underneath says, “You’re white, get out of those clothes and deal with it.” Yet if I were to upload a picture of Barrack Obama in his business suit, and caption it with, “You’re black, get out of those clothes and deal with it,” I would be labeled a racist for sure.

If people (white people included) do not want stereotypes against them, then they should not enact the stereotypes, and they certainly should not make jokes about the stereotypes under the motive that it is fine for them to do, so long as they are of the race the stereotype is set against. But considering that there are people who fit the stereotypes (whether or not that is even a bad thing) that is unfair to them. The simpler solution would be admitting to ourselves that stereotypes exist, there is not much we can do about it. And then completely ignore the people dealing out the stereotype. Like a childhood bully throwing a tantrum, if no one is listening to him/her, they will stop, because they aren’t receiving attention. That would be a huge step towards gaining true equality of race in this country.

One thing to consider is this. The differences in race is the same method of distinguishing different breeds of animals, ie, the difference between a Saint Bernard and a Mastiff. Races are different in a physical status, they use different languages and dialects. Some races are shorter or taller. If we want to stop racism, one of the first things to do would simply be to abolish the idea of different races and consider us all a part of the human race. But that would be taking away a great majority of individuality from the people of the world, so maybe distinguishing ourselves in this manner isn’t quite as bad as we think.

For all of our technological advances, our world is still surprisingly in a very primitive state. The fact that we still have things like racism, corruption in our governments and the like is proof that we may have made ourselves new toys over the years, but we haven’t advanced as a species in terms of sociality. Our species were facing the same problems back during the time of Christ and before, that we are now. Whether or not this is something that can be changed consciously by us, or if it is something that will just happen naturally over the course of time, is undeterminable, but one thing is for sure, the fact that we can even envision a world where we don’t treat each other with hatred is a good indication that we are taking the right road to reaching that place.

Creation of Evolution

The debate is long standing, do you believe in creationism or evolution? Personally, my view on the matter is this: What's so wrong with both?

I believe in God, and the fact is that whether or not the bible says it or not, we can date fossils of bipedal man back before the bible says Adam and Eve were created. So what gives? Who's wrong? Who's to say anyone is? God created a galaxy and a solar system so vast and diverse that the million different pulls of gravity, and the million different alignments allow for life on this solitary rock. It worked out perfectly for this. If he could do that, then I have to admit that he probably could have created a creature so diverse that all of the little pulls of nature and its environment could cause it to change over a vast amount of time into what we now call homo-sapien.

Basically, if Charles Darwin was smart enough to think of this, why wouldn't God be?

Maybe God understood that to give man the experience he (and she) would need to survive in the world he created they would need time to develop the instincts they would use to keep themselves alive. Maybe he knew the evolutionary process was necessary, but decided that we didn't need to understand it until we were smart enough to. Quite possibly, God created the foundation for man long before Adam and Eve, and merely perfected it with them. If you ask, "God can do anything, why not just make them the way the bible says they were?" Why did God not just make it so the souls of men could escape limbo without the death of his son? Anything worth doing is worth doing right. That's not to say that this is factual, its merely a theory, but it's one that helps explain evolution in God's plan. We are finally able to grasp the concept, tens of thousands of years later...and we the creationists may just be missing the big picture all because it's not recorded in the big book. There are a lot of lifes mysteries not recorded in the big book, but we see them every day and accept them for fact, why not this?

As far as the Evolutionists go, the only thing I have to say to them is this. As stated above, the universe, and the evolutionary cycle are a very diverse bunch. And as stated previously, if Charles Darwin was smart enough to think up evolution then I'm sure the all powerful God probably thought of it first. The concepts of evolution and even the universes complexity are just too precise and perfect to think that they just happened by chance and were not designed that way.

Doc out.

Went and saw the new Star Trek movie a couple of nights ago. It was really outstanding. I've never really been a huge trekkie, but I followed enough of it to get all the little throwbacks to the fans, and I have to admit that this movie was better than any Star Wars movie, especially the prequel trilogy. Looking forward to sequels. Live long and prosper \\//_

Ergh

I work a night audit job for a hotel (just started that shift, anyway) and over the last three days have gotten 3 hours of sleep. I got off work at about 7 AM this morning, had to meet up with the Army Recruiter so I could go back to the MEPS and get my hearing retested. I failed that again, and a future with the Army seems nonexistent. I got home at 6 pm, to find my younger siblings arrived home before me, and guess what? My sister decided to bring her fucking trombone so she can practice up for band next year. But hey, apparantly God loves me, right?

Doc out.

NBC cutting on Heroes

It looks like NBC thinks that limiting the episodes per season will help the series get a boost in viewership. I'm not sure about that, but I know that it's probably going to make it harder for the writers to fit in a decent storyline when they have less space to work with. That's the whole reason season two tanked so bad.

"It's becoming clear that the broadcast networks, under pressure to cut costs as ratings continue to erode, are taking a page from their cable cousins. Rather than deploy the normal set of 22 to 25 episodes that play out between September and May with a number of interruptions and repeats, the broadcast outlets are winnowing down the number of episodes they air for selected programs."

Read the full deal at this link, http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=136194 .

Darth Vader can be an ass sometimes...

This is pretty funny, definitely give you a good laugh.

Emperor Pope-atine

Our Pope is a wonderful person, and a very influential leader of the spiritual community...but God help me if he doesn't look like a certain former Senator of the Galactic Republic turned Emperor. I think I'm going to Hell for this, I'll tell Leonidas and the 300 about it over dinner.

Disowning your country can be profitable!

You may have heard of this one already, but a new bill passed makes it extremely profitable to be an illegal alien. If you're illegal for five years, you can apply for citizenship, pay a 2000 dollar fine, and then pay back the taxes on three of the five years you've been illegal. But there's more to it than that, as evidenced below. I got this in an email, a letter from an Iowa resident to an Iowa state senator in regards to the bill, and I have to admit, I'm kind of upset I didn't think to do it first.

The Honorable Tom Harkin

731 Hart Senate Office Building

Phone (202) 224 3254

Washington DC , 20510

Dear Senator Harkin,

As a native Iowan and excellent customer of the Internal Revenue Service, I am writing to ask for your assistance. I have contacted the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to determine the process for becoming an illegal alien and they referred me to you.

My primary reason for wishing to change my status from U.S. Citizen to illegal alien stems from the bill which was recently passed by the Senate and for which you voted. If my understanding of this bill's provisions is accurate, as an illegal alien who has been in the United States for five years, all I need to do to become a citizen is to pay a $2,000 fine and income taxes for three of the last five years. I know a good deal when I see one and I am anxious to get the process started before everyone figures it out.

Simply put, those of us who have been here legally have had to pay taxes every year so I'm excited about the prospect of avoiding two years of taxes in return for paying a $2,000 fine. Is there any way that I can apply to be illegal retroactively? This would yield an excellent result for me and my family because we paid heavy taxes in 2004 and 2005.

Additionally, as an illegal alien I could begin using the local emergency room as my primary health care provider. Once I have stopped paying premiums for medical insurance, my accountant figures I could save almost $10,000 a year.

Another benefit in gaining illegal status would be that my daughter would receive preferential treatment relative to her law school applications, as well as 'in-state' tuition rates for many colleges throughout the United States for my son.

Lastly, I understand that illegal status would relieve me of the burden of renewing my driver's license and making those burdensome car insurance premiums. This is very important to me given that I still have college age children driving my car.

If you would provide me with an outline of the process to become illegal (retroactively if possible) and copies of the necessary forms, I would be most appreciative. Thank you for your assistance.

Your Loyal Constituent, (hoping to reach 'illegal alien' status rather than just a bonafide citizen of the USA )

Donald Ruppert

Burlington, IA

Let's All Go to the Land Down Undah

I was reading through some tripe that a website was trying to pass off as news when a genuinely wonderful article caught my eye. It spoke about the President (or whatever) of Australia declining the Muslims request for a national holiday. His reasoning for it was basically that Australia was a primarily Christian nation and was founded as such. He went on to inform Muslims that they would obviously not be hindered in celebrating their own holy days, and they were not being discriminated against, and if they did not like this arrangement then they had the option of leaving Australia.

As a christian I believe that it's important to respect people, even the ones that I don't agree with (AKA, the ones who are wrong). I also believe that there is a time to lay down the law. It's a matter of reverse discrimination. If I make fun of a Muslim for their culture, or if I tell a Hispanic person that he/she needs to learn English, for chrissake, then I am being prejudice and racist. But a minority can point fingers and laugh all he wants at a white guy or a christian without any repercussions. This is just as racist and wrong as discriminating against minorites.

So I give a big shout out to the Big Man Down Under for making a call that our leaders here in the States apparently don't have the balls to make, Congratulations.