Do That In Your Own Bathtub, Kid

So I saved a kid at my pool today.

MUDAFUCKA!!1

Goddammit. A vid that I embedded in this post got removed.

If this means they've decided to start selling high quality DVDs of the episodes, then never mind, switch the tone of this post's title into a joyful one. If not, then my anger remains.

This reminds me of when all those hilarious Downfall parodies started getting banned by the distributor, Constantin Film. Stupid. You know how I discovered that film? The parodies. Hell, without 'em I'd probably never have seen it at all. Is that what you want?

I also don't like when YouTube clips of scenes from a movie get removed. If someone uploads the entire movie, yeah, that's wrong, even I admit that. If they upload one scene, that's fine. I get exactly what I was looking for and you get free advertising. I wasn't going to rent the movie, buy a theater ticket, or pay anything at all, just to see that one scene from the entire movie.

Bling Bling Sparkle Sparkle

I'm looking at a guy wearing white shoes. It's almost grotesque and definitely absurd how carefully he walks through puddles, taking care not to sully his pristine kicks. Lift foot, gently place, no splashing, lift foot, repeat.

And I think, "What a faggot."

He is intent on maintaining the appearance of never walking anywhere in those shoes.
That inconveniently white footwear, his ironed clothes, his fading artificial tan, all of it blaring the message that he doesn't do shit with his body. It's just for show.

Fucker probably had manicured nails, too.

Mass Effect 3: Thoughts

Finished the game. Not going to spoil, it's worth playing and I don't want to ruin it for you guys.

But I will give out some of my thoughts.

I liked it. The ending is a little weak but I didn't feel like I wasted my time at all and I'm going to play it again.

Yep. That's that.
========================
You may have heard that Bioware's fanbase has been drinking a lot of the haterade for years. There's a large and rabid band of people who have been heaping the scorn and internet rage on all kinds of things Bioware for a long time, and not just on Mass Effect 3 but other games developed by the company, and even singling out specific writers for the company. It's gotten out of hand.

It's Your Fault. Not ALL Your Fault, But It Is Your Fault.

Raging post ahead. You have been warned.

It's on you to shape the world the way you want it to be. That world is massive and your influence on it is probably like having a chisel to take down a mountain, but use it anyway.

When you regurgitate the aphorism "The rich get richer, the poor get poorer" and feel like it's unfair, but then go out and give your money to Walmart or some other multi-national chain, then fuck you.

When you start to notice that stupidity and ignorance creep relentlessly over the minds of humanity, and you just accept it, fuck you.

All those "grammar nazis" out there, they serve as a final bastion of sorts against the incessant waves of retardation that weather away the shores of Correctness.

Did you know that most people can read these days? Why is that? If people can be stupid, why not be completely stupid and just be illiterate, too?
Because they have incentives to know how to read. Not all of them have thirsts for knowledge or anything noble like that. Compulsory education more likely. They probably don't read books (unless a teacher assigned them, in which case: Cliff Notes) but they can go read articles on Fox News or TMZ or some shit like that.

It's within your grasp to positively reinforce behavior in your world. There are few natural incentives for people to do nice things but appreciation and praise are two and you can give it to them.

SOPA/PIPA

I considered doing one of the "go dark" things but I think my little blog here would better serve the cause with some information.



Here are some good links for more. Since you're here visiting my blog I'm going to make the assumption that, unlike most Americans, you read things you don't have to and might even like reading things.

http://www.fark.com/2012/sopapipa/
http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and.html
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41911.pdf

If you don't live in the U.S. just know this: if you frequent sites with domain names of .com or .org your virtual "neighborhood" falls within our grasp.

I don't know about you but I look across my Bookmarks toolbar and I see this.

http://chadrocco.deviantart.com/art/SOPA-PIPA-Executive-E-Motions-280090484

The big companies backing SOPA/PIPA didn't want "their" money going to the artists then and they aren't concerned about any money going or not going to artists now.

You know what? I don't think anyone really believes the propaganda these big organizations are putting out. Really, they just want you to do nothing. They win that way, too.

============================================
Over the past few days I've become more and more cognizant of the fact that things weren't simpler when I was a kid, I was just ignorant and blind. That's not self-deprecation, by the way. Honestly, I believe that at that age it isn't good to have all kinds of heavy issues laid on an undeveloped mind. A part of growing up is discovering that reality isn't so simple after all. Yeah, now that I'm on this side of 20 I can see that a lot of these "adults" never grew up when they were supposed to.

Immortality and Poor Writing

You remember Aesop's fable concerning the fox and the grapes? Hmm?

Sour grapes, that's what that looks like to me. What does this have to do with poor writing? Well, quite a few times I've read a story or comic, some article of fiction, and I find a character who has the property of immortality but he has been struck by ennui. His thoughts are written to follow something along the lines of 'I've seen it all, I've done it all. What else is there? All the people I've ever known have grown old and died before me. Fie upon this everlasting existence and woe is me for who could consider this living when there is no possibility of dying?'. To which I must retort:

In this day and age, I find the idea that anyone can legitimately believe themselves to have 'seen it all and done it all' offensively absurd. Some wags like to think themselves clever by saying vaguely Zen-like adages such as "The more things change, the more they stay the same." I refer them to my above rebuttal.

The internet. I believe the technical term for it is "fucking awesome". Nothing that has come before can compete with how far and fast this thing can spread ideas and information.

"Nothing like it"? No, you can't say that. Telephones, telegrams, a sophisticated postal system, these things were certainly like it, and just as revolutionary in their days. But these things were obstructed by borders and, more importantly, by distance.

This thing, the internet... I don't even know how to impress upon you how much more it is than anything people had 50 years ago. In the span of one day, I will (and you can, too) bump virtual elbows with thousands of people, collectively chuckling at memes and commenting on YouTube clips, funny images, etc. How many people do you personally interact with in a day? How many of those do you engage in conversation? Let's even take internet out of the equation. Before internet, how many people did a person interact with in a day? We are social animals, but even on a weekend at a party with friends, I'm confident enough to place that number well under 3-digits.
Ok, enough of that. Any more and this post will be fully derailed from the original intended topic. haha.

I believe I make my point clear. There are people in every age who look at the wonders man has wrought and think to themselves, "Well. That's it. There's nothing else to see and nowhere else to go." Immortality is wasted on these people. But then, this character probably didn't choose to have the ability. He usually doesn't when the writer's intention is to make him 'a bored guy'. He'll spend his time wishing he could be a normal guy. O TEH IRONY! Be careful what you wish for ooga booga booga!

Fuck that. If I was immortal I'd do it all. Take a look at this list, damn you. I'd master it all! War and Peace? I'd read that shit. In its original language.

In a nutshell, I believe what we have here isn't a case of being 'cursed with awesomeness', it's a case of casting pearls before swine.

An Overheard Conversation

At the local library renewing a book and I overheard this one.

"I don't have a computer at home."
Oh, you're so lucky. I prefer to come here and get things done, like that. *snaps fingers*
"It got a virus..."
Oh..... too bad.

What a dumb fuck.... True 1st-world idiot right there. Oh, you're so lucky you don't have this evil time-wasting diversion called a personal computer.

Annoyance #1: Stale Joke

I present to you a new series of things that annoy me. A list of pet peeves if you like. That is to say, certain things of no real consequence that evoke a disproportionate amount of dissatisfaction on my part. There exist a great many wrongs of significance that urk me but these do not rank among them. This I will grudgingly admit.
----------------------------------------
When people with birthdays that land on leap years say they're only 1/4 of their age, e.g. "I'm only 5 years old." This is retarded. Regardless of the infrequent occurrance of the day of February the 29th, another cycle of 365 days has passed since your birth. People born on leap days merely have their birthdays fall on March 1st in common years, if they so choose. They can properly say, "I've only had 5 birthdays" perhaps, but they better have forfeited those intervening common year celebrations to earn this privilege. The absence of a 4/29 date on which to celebrate does not magically keep your age in stasis. Celebrate it or not, you've gotten older, punk.

Needs Re-calibrating (>~<)

The past three nights I've had an unusually noticeable lack of traction when running in my dreams. It is as if I were trying to run through a liquid. I know, I know, "Why not just fly since you can anyway?" Well, sometimes I like to walk. On the ground. Ok? Makes me feel normal. hehe

These last few sessions weren't the first occurrences but I definitely took more notice of it than I have before. I was stalking the halls of the elementary school I attended. You know, the stuffy Catholic one. Unfortunately, the building had been drastically renovated since I'd last been inside. (Both in the dream and in real life. In both respects.) The ceilings aren't high so I suppose that factored into my decision to hotfoot it out of a sticky situation rather than take off. And then the very air betrayed me. Its viscosity became as syrup or perhaps a dense pool. Mercifully, breathing remained unaffected. Still, every step took a valiant effort and when I tried to speed my stride I would QWOP over backwards. How frustrating.

Maybe I'm turning my Floatiness setting too far down, hmmm?

A Postal Dream

Last night an interesting dream came.

I was a postal worker delivering mail in a snowy area. While I made my rounds putting letters into mailboxes a postal service snow plow was supposed to have come by and cleared the road. (There's no such thing as a postal service snow plow by the way, that's a Dept. of Transportation issue.) When I got back to my truck it was half-buried by the piled snow pushed off the main street. Someone comes out onto their porch and watches me digging it out.

Hahaha isn't that supposed to be someone else's job?
I look up and reply, "Yeah, but when you work at the post office long enough the code you follow becomes: 'Fuck it.' Because the mail, it nevers stops coming. Day after day letters pour in and you have to send it out. No matter how fast you work it's always coming in. Bags and bags of it. Insanity is an inevitability. Hence the phrase "going postal". It's the boxes that are the worst. I hate boxes."

At which point the man points out that the mail car is shaped like a box.

And I destroy it with my pickaxe. In cubes. And I don't even like Minecraft. (%__)

Those First-Year Punks...(_¬¬)

So I mentioned in the last post that I don't like first-years and here's why: Most of them don't know what they want to do yet. That is to say they join a whole bunch of clubs at the start of the year and then, when they actually get homework, they drop out because they didn't realize the commitment it takes to learn a martial art.

Oh, woops. Did I mention my whole dislike of their ilk stems from my experiences in martial arts clubs?

Most of them have never done any martial arts before. I don't hold this against them. I encourage everyone to take one up. It really goes beyond just making you physically fit, although I will make no arguments about enhancing your ability to defend yourself in a dangerous situation. That really isn't something that a person has to deal with on a day-to-day basis in our society now. (It's true.) It pushes your body further than a regular sport. Your entire body becomes a single tool. There's nothing like it, I tell you. But then, I might just be naturally inclined to feel this way due to my heritage.
╮(╯ヮ ╰)╭

Anyway, quite the tangent there, I don't hold that against them. What I do not tolerate is the lack of dedication. This isn't intramural kickball or soccer. You can't just learn the rules and work out and go at it. It takes technique. Form. That's where they falter. A good portion of the initial interested newcomers will drop off when they winnow their club commitments down to a select few. That's inevitable. But then the ones who stay find out that they have to learn fundamentals before they can do all the cool shit they saw in the movies and on TV. And they bail. Bloody wankers indeed....

A Motivating Dream

That is to say 'twas not motivational for 'twas I that did the motivating.

I was back at Uni hanging out with some friends. Interestingly, I actually know the memory from which this dream got its setting.

The memory:
A batch of us went to the combination Baskin-Robbins/Dunkin Donuts just off-grounds. We'd just seen Thor [2011] (it was a'ight) and, as usual, we still wanted to hang out so ice cream became the order of the night. When we got there we all went in, save one. I shall call him P-boy.

Oh, I should mention that the group of us are all in the same club together, which explains why he was there even though I wouldn't call him a friend of mine.

Anyhoo, P-Boy. He's kind of a sad sack. His attitude is often melancholy (you should see his FB statuses, which he insists on updating frequently. I swear it's almost a plea for attention). He lacks self-esteem and he's an introvert but he tries to put himself out there as a confident out-going man.

To put it succinctly, he's the opposite of me in almost every way. Haha. No make that every way. If you only knew... But if you did I would have to wonder how.... (Ô.o)

Oh, going off on a tangent there. Another post will come later with the rest of that. LOOK FORWARD TO IT SUCKAS!! (Ò_____Ó)-b

Anyway, when everyone went into the BR/DD P-boy turned and left without a word. In reality I said, "Meh." In the dream, though, I went after him and we talked.

---------------------------------------------------

Why are you so sad all the time?
Why should I be happy?
Life. Life is awesome.
Of course you're always chipper, you can fly.
*Note: Regular readers will know by now that I can fly in my dreams.
So? I'd still be happy even if I couldn't fly. (It's true. I am even though I can't. (O_<)-b)
Oh really? I wouldn't be sad ever if I could fly.
I doubt that. You'd still be your sad self even if you could do this. *hover hover* What would you do if you could fly? 
I'd just take off whenever I wanted.
Yeah, you could go anywhere, but you'd go alone. You'd watch the sunsets, admire the landscapes? Then what? Take pictures of yourself? Probably make you even more depressed when you start to feel isolated and alone.
I'd be special though, different. I could do something most people can't.
That last one isn't the key to happiness. Why is it important whether other people can do a thing or not? Is there some kind of inflation of value going on here? You can run and jump, taste and smell. Not everyone can do all of these things, you know?
Yeah, but most people can.
So you're actively taking them for granted? As in, you're making a conscious effort to do so? In that case, I really can't help you. That applies to all those places you would have gone with a flight ability too. All those exotic places you might have gone, thousands have been there before. O how will you enjoy them now, hmm? This isn't some Pokémon world dammit. You don't have to be the very best. You just have to be all you can be. And every one is special. They just have to realize that.

At this point the dream changed and I was talking to a friend along similar lines. But that's a separate story.

The Departed vs Infernal Affairs - A Precursor

I could will post a longer (winded hehe) review post concerning all the areas where The Departed [2006] fell flat as a remake of the Hong Kong film, Infernal Affairs [2002], or even as a stand-alone film but for now I will only concern myself and you with one scene: the elevator scene.
.
.
.
Despite what I just said I still almost posted a rant here....
(- -___)
Infernal Affairs is such a great movie that I get especially rant-prone about it.

Go YouTube 'the departed elevator scene' or something. Watch it.

In a word: messy. Just so messy. Bang! Bang bang! Bang! Are you serious? How the hell are these three deaths not going to get back to him? That's two (three but technically Costigan's file got deleted) dead cops and the body of a guy who some one at the station will remember seeing come in a few days before. And those blood splatters are going to paint an odd picture for the forensics team when they notice that these three didn't neatly off one another, not to mention seeming to wipe their guns clean after.

Not to mention the other little bang at the end when Wahlberg's pointless, and pointlessly foul-mouthed, character offs Damon. (- -___) Plenty of paralipsis in this argument...

Then the final cutaway even shows a large rat crawling across the rooftop. What amazing subtlety.
Hmmm. "Pointlessly foul-mouthed." Wow, that kinda applies to the whole movie doesn't it? By golly.

And from Infernal Affairs. That's the original there. And I think to myself, what the hell did William Monahan think to himself when he adapted that scene? Monahan wrote the screenplay for The Departed, by the way.

Ah, hell. Even if Americans needed their movies dumb-ed down, dirtied up, splashed with violence and spoken in English to appreciate them *I* would appreciate if they knew where they were getting their stuff. Anyone remember the Academy Awards for the year The Departed won? The presenter described The Departed as being based on a Japanese film. *Sigh* I did not need another reason to think that it's a bunch of fools running things over there at the Academy but they gave me another.

And there's still a good amount of rant in this post. Maybe I need counseling....

Oh oh! One last note. I found this comment on one of the YouTube vids of The Departed's elevator scene.

Damn, this guy... he doesn't know how right he is. Nor how much more right he could be. I really don't know who is to blame for messing up the ending, Monahan or Scorcese. That shock you got from that death in the original movie gets muddled and lost when the antagonist in The Departed, Sullivan (Matt Damon), didn't walk away clean. He got cleanly shot by Wahlberg's character. I sighed soooo hard just now I inhaled. It's like a sign that reads, "Remember kids, crime doesn't pay."

The best leaders

Posting for Tuesday, 8/16.

This is another post on a serious note. Now, I'm not big on politics, in fact I'll admit I can be described as 'apathetic' towards most of the struggle. Yeah, you can tell me all about how these currents will affect my life and many others but that doesn't change my feelings about it. For every person who thinks things should best be done one way, there is someone who just as staunchly believes otherwise. I truly believe that the best leaders are those who got into the position without seeking power. There was a passage in one of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books, I cannot remember which one, in which a group of men in suits ask an old hermit questions about how to run the universe or some such then leave. If you recall that scene then you should understand what I mean. If you don't, go read those books! It's good stuff.
Anyway, where was I... Oh yes. You remember John McCain? Back in the day he was actually a really good politician in my opinion. Despite being a Republican, he did a lot of good work. I laughed heartily every time I saw him branded a 'maverick' because he didn't follow the Republican party line. Good for you, sir, for having some integrity. Clearly something your party doesn't appreciate. And I'm not even trying to be scathing. Sadly, the man lost one too many times when he lost the Republican nomination against George W. Bush in 2000. When he came around to face off against Obama in 2008 he was kind of a changed man. For the worse. A lot of his 'views' had fallen more in line with orthodox conservative thinking and there you could see that he really, really wanted to win that one. If I may say, he "sold out" in a final bid for the presidency. Since then he's gotten worse. I might even go so far as to say he's become an obstructionist. And his party is probably proud of that.
I will say this though, McCain was a good man. Shit, he was a better man than most of his supporters. You can see what I mean here:



Really, how must it feel to know that you have to depend on jingoists, racists, and other ignorant types to vote you into power? I'm am confident that McCain felt twinges of frustration inside when he had to endure the boos of that crowd of 'supporters'. On the plus side, I'm happy to see that when the old lady calls Obama an Arab the blonde lady behind McCain's elbow shakes her head exasperatedly. It's good to know there are some good apples in that batch.

I say if you want to lead, you'd better want it because you feel you know what's best, not because you want control.
Try this exercise. How do you determine who gets the remote for the TV? Do you want to hold it even if you don't particularly have anything you want to watch? That's a pretty good indicator that you want the power, common good be damned.

Applying that to the real world, right now I don't think the Republican party actually really wants to defeat Obama in the upcoming election. Hell, I don't even think they know what they would do if they got the presidency. It's probably better for them if they just let Obama go another four years and focus their efforts on fucking up the system from the inside, gleefully jeering at Obama the entire time.