So Spider-Man 3 was good

Not excellent, but enjoyable and the fanboy in me can see it twice but not a third time.

What was cool:

Venom. Right off the bat, you have the symbiote which augments all attributes of it's host as per Doc Connors' report. Not only augmenting his powers but also his state of mind. He was in a dark depressing state and the symbiote fed off that. I'm not sure people understood that. It also augmented how much of a geek he was hence the strut scene.

Now actually using Eddie Brock and Venom longer than assumed five minute fight at the end of the movie people thought there would be was cool. Venom looked good, Topher Grace made Eddie brock the asshole he was. The mysteriously absent remains from the explosion is a nice segue into a future film as was the bits left behind.

This also felt like a Sam Raimi movie. It felt like Evil Dead and Darkman. The camera style was there, the classic Raimi comedic scenes were there. The "This would be awesome in 3-d" camera angles were there. Bruce Campbell "I am French" was there. It worked.

The humor was there too, a big deal with Spidey. He cracks jokes and smarts off to the bad guys. He didn't do it so much here but there was some great humourous moments. "Where do these guys keep coming from?"

What sucked:

Venom. The whole thing felt thrown on like the studio demanded it. Especially when all the advertising became about Venom. Sam Raimi more than likely had this grand tale of Peter Parker facing his Uncle's murderer in the Sandman planned out, as well as dealing with Goblin Jr. at the same time. What I expected from this was Sandman and Green Goblin 2 teaming up to face Spidey and the black suit being some sort of power up Parker is forced to use. But that didn't happen.

The villains all find out his identity, again. That's what sucks about Ultimate Spidey, besides the terrible drawn out storylines and ultimatization of characters just to say I made this one by a certain overhyped writer who loves his publicity good or bad and the bad art, er, all the bad guys know who spider-man is. All of them. What's the point of having a secret identity?

Not enough action, too much time spent with the MJ relationship and the completely unncessesary addition of Gwen Stacy and Captain Stacy. Captain Stacy could have easily been any other of the police officers Spidey has dealt with before, Jean DeWolfe for instance. Gwen as this other woman didnt really fit because it wasn't like there was actually an attraction there for Peter he was all emo for MJ. Plus Kirsten Dunst is a piss poor actress and a terrible Mary Jane who seems to think the movie is all about her whenever she's interviewed.

Also, Gwen just looked weird, not quite crossed eyed but close.

What I caught that only a fanboy of my nature could have caught:

Doc Connors missin' an arm, gots himself some symbiote left, potential for the Lizard and Carnage.

Hal Fishman as the news anchor, think about it.

"There's not even a scar" Hinting at the possibility the goblin formula granted accelerated healing abilities.

Plenty of hints and red herrings for the future of this franchise. Because 1, it broke all the records. There will be a Spider-Man 4. Maybe some cast will change, honestly, I don't mind the idea of a new MJ. Tobey Maguire leaving might be bad, especially since the only kid I could think to replace him was Topher Grace. Maybe that nerdy guy from the OC could do it.


But having seen it and knowing there's bound to be number four I can only think of how to do it now. Who's he fight? He's faced his demons, beaten Goblin, Sandman, his uncle's killer and redeemed his best friend. What could possibly go wrong for him now? The universe hates you Peter Parker, show us that. Give us overbearing odds, even with help you won't beat. Scorpion, Electro, Vulture, Mysterio, Kraven, Lizard, hell, friggin' Hobgoblin would be a good enemy now.

I envision a Spider-Man 4 with The Vulture, The Scorpion, and the Lizard. A Spider-Man 5 with Kraven, Mysterio and maybe the Hobgoblin. A Spider-Man 6 with the Sinister Six to end the franchise, which I heartell Raimi would love to do and I'd love to see him do it.

But Spider-Man 3, good, however it has it's drawbacks and I would say too many characters. It does look like parts of the movie were designed specifically for the game though. Especially the final fight and the first Sandman encounter.

I give it a good movie rating.

Comics!

Ok, so I know I said I was going to post everyday, but then I got distracted and forgot and then just couldn't force myself to write anything. So basically I decided that I'm not going to finish my goal this week. I'm just going to go do my project presentation instead.

Picking a fight online

I wanted to go and pick a fight online for this project once. But then I remembered something, that's stupid. Ridiculously stupid. Now, I admit to having been involved in online arguments, even the pathetic flame war or two, but actually going out of my way to start one? Where is the logic in that?

Who goes around the internet, looking for a populated site such as a message board or a "prominent" blog, and then goes and decides "Hey I think I'll harass these people" and posts stupid things in an attempt to flame them? What is the draw? I tried it once, but couldn't really force myself into posting in a poorly written net lingo style. I can purposefully say things just to piss someone off, but it's quite obvious when I do and then the coversation turns to "Oh you're just saying that to piss me off aren't you?" and ends. Online you do not have a verbal tone, you have a written tone. Most people online are not trained writers and beyond capitalizing their words to make it seem like shouting, or emphasis, the tone is all context. You may be saying something meaning it to be calm, but the reader in turn reads it as an angry hate brainless post and responds as seen fit. That is why fighting online is stupid. Arguing is understandable, opinions disagree, but turning into a fight is different.

Changing from a simple opinion driven but calm discussion to overly opinionated and angered cuss match is just stupid and pointless. Nothing is accomplished by that, except maybe peace of mind for those involved believing themselves to be right. A calm discussion of an argument is the logical way to process whatever the argument is about. If there is a point to it, an actual two sided debate where one side is right and the other is wrong, you will be more likely to prove yourself to be in the right without freaking out in anger. That goes for both online and off. Turning into a heated debate with personal jabs and curses being thrown about will never be a good way to argue.

This somewhat covers that concept of a code of conduct on the internet. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Didn't your mother ever tell you that? I don't understand what is wrong with so many people online that their arguments turn to fighting with such ease. Perhaps there needs to be some sort of online ettiquette class in schools these days so the next generation doesn't turn out like this Online Generation has been. Kids are getting online younger and younger, and do they really need to be exposed to the concept of a flame war before they've even had their first heated argument offline? Teach them not to flame, teach them not to troll, not to do things they shouldn't online, make them aware that there are consequences to online behavior, but most importantly, teach them to type real words, not the shorthand you get from texting on your cellphones.

Maybe if you get them young, you can prevent the next generation of internet kids from turning into a flame war ridden bunch of a-holes like this one. Oh who am I kidding, there's always going to be that one guy who's just a dick online because he can't be offline. The one who will go to a messageboard, get banned, then keep coming back under different aliases, for months if not years at a time. Yes, that happens all the time online. I'm disgusted by these people. They're also the ones who make a big deal out of deleting comments on blogs, they want people to see what they did. These are the people who cannot argue without fighting online, probably offline too. They're that one annoying guy who has to always be right regardless of wether or not he really is. He's not right, just the loudest. Everyone encounters this guy or girl in their life at least once, usually twice. Imagine those people, online, anonymous, and without the concept of a consequence for their actions. Now imagine if that's what kids saw when they went online and then they learned from that. Flaming, not arguing, there's a difference, kids.

Arguing online, not that big of a deal. It happens, it's expected. Fighting, come on, you should be better than that. Learn to write if you are going to be online. Remember this dear reader, you are probably guilty of this once or twice since coming online. You may have even fallen for the trap of a troll. It happens. Get over it, and move on. Learn and do the right thing for once.

Winning a fight on the internet is like winning the special olympics. Just saying.

Zombies!

If there is one thing I know, it's Zombies. Zombie Survival Guide? I scoff at that book. You want to survive a Zombie Apocalypse? You will do as I say and you may just live to tell the tale.

Of course that's based on the theory your zombie apocalypse scenario has an ending. Most zombie apocalypses(apcalypsi?) are end of all things kind of zombie scenarios. George A. Romero's great epic Living Dead series presents that the world is so overrun with zombies and all who die, not just from being bit, rise again. That kinda puts into perspective that life is over and there's no chance for a tomorrow.

But first we have to establish the basics to survive a zombie scenario. We have to figure out which category it fits into, or rather what kind of zombie are we dealing with. Now, for a zombie apocalypse, it would have to be the living dead not a mindless, voodoo controlled, being. I'm fairly sure we can get past living zombies with ease compared to the undead. Now when presented with a zombie apocalypse, I ask myself the following questions:

1. What category of Zombie attack is this? What begat the zombie plague you are facing?

• Biological - A virus or some other biological means that has made the dead rise, and spreads a contagion that converts living tissue into zombie. Also included in this would be radiation affecting the biology of a living person turning them into a zombie.
• Chemical - A chemical compound has reanimated flesh, and even the seperation of the brain will not stop the body from functioning as it is reanimated not alive.
• Metaphysical - No explaination can be found. Death has simply stopped caring and sent everyone back. Perhaps the afterlife is full, perhaps an evil spirit in the woods has awakened, or maybe God just hates you. Either way, the dead are just rising and killing. Now, metaphysical just rising dead can also just rise and not be psychotic killers but rather just regular joes, but the more the brain has decayed the more likely it is they will kill.

2. How do you kill your zombie? To survive you will have to kill at least one.

• Brain Death - "Just shoot them in the head" Any kind of injury to the brain or spinal cord will have the same effect it will on a normal person. Body goes down without any functions.
• Full Body Death - The brain is gone, head is gone, spines broken, the flesh is still alive. You may just have to completely dismember the corpse or burn it. But with burning you risk the contamination of zombie ashes.
• Rare but always possible "Just shoot them" death - The reanimated corpse can be killed as easily as the first time it died. No special means, heck you could choke the sucker out.

3. How does the future look? Is there a chance for a return to normality?

• Biological - In the biological category, a cure is usually possible. A gene may exist in some people that prevents the viral agent from taking over or perhaps the virus is only temporary and the immune system can kick it out. Maybe the zombie can starve to death? Maybe chemo works? In the biological case, it's usually a good chance for normality to return if you survive.
• Chemical - This too generally has a cure or at least an antithesis to the first chemical. A way to break down whatever has reanimated the dead. But many times it's likely whomever invented the reanimation reagent dies before they figure out the antidote.
• Metaphysical - This is tricky. Depending on what metaphysical manner has risen the dead, you have a chance or you might as well just give up. Evil spirits? Containable. Afterlife's full and the dead are just walking around with nowhere to go? Managable. Dead just rising? Might want to just hide out on an island until you die of old age.

Also always take into consideration wether or not animals are rising too. If a mosquito is a zombie then you're probably screwed.

Now once those questions are answered, you would then have to think of how you survive. Where are you? An isolated area? Populated city? What do you have available to defend yourself with?

What you have to do in most cases is find shelter, and wait it out. I recomend the Dawn of the Dead scenario more than anything. Board yourself up in a mall, you will more than likely survive in comfort there. If you can't find a mall, any kind of department store will do, especially a Wal-Mart. In an isolated area? You have the best chance then, you have days before any serious number of zombies come for you. You can fortify your defenses, and prepare for the onslaught.

The ideal place to hide would be an island. Rigor Mortis, decaying flesh, and water do not mix well. Even if the zombie can get into the water, chances are they won't be able to just walk on over to your island and even then, the water weight will make them easy pickings.

But let's talk a mall, or department store, the most likely area to hide and survive:

Inside you will have food, shelter, fresh clothing, weaponry, and defendable terrain. It should be no hard concept to figure out how to defend yourself inside one of these places unless there is no power. Which is a possibility but there's also a good chance wherever you are will be selling generators and flashlights anyway. The first thing you have to do once getting to the safety zone of the mall/store is to find and seal off all entrances and exits. Anyway outside needs to be covered. Doors, windows, fire escapes, perhaps a tunnel system underneath leading to a parking garage. The Parking garage will be the worst place you can find, if possible you will want to collapse the parking structure somehow. Make sure it does not damage the building in any accessible way. It would be ideal if you could just collapse the garage and seal off exits without any problem. Realistically, you may need to just move some cars around. No keys? Red to yellow or yellow to blue, or just stab the keyhole with a screwdriver. Move the cars as close as possible to the entrances and exits, if the parking garage is secure and you have found no zombies, I recomend moving all the cars into blocking off the first floor and main entrance. Rig some to blow up if necessary.

Once the parking area is secure, lock all the doors. Seal them as much as possible. Cement, weld them shut, brace them somehow, anything to make sure nothing can get through. Now here is the tricky part, you will want one or two emergency exits for the just in case scenario. Never should they be on a ground floor. A rooftop, second or higher story window, basement access, or if possible, the loading area. A loading dock area should be big enough to hold some kind of vehicle inside, store it just in case, and seal the big metal doors, they won't get in but you can get out if you need to.

Once your building is secure it's time to arm up and set defences. You will want guns. Swords and axes look cool in movies, but suck in close range zombie fights. Blunt objects are ridiculously unsafe too. A gun is what you need. The shotgun is superior in it's ability to easily remove the head, but for most people it's impractical. A shotgun does not hold many rounds, it is not accurate, and the kick may be a bit much for some. A handgun, 9mm or so, works just fine and accuracy can be easily improved upon. Automatic weapons are probably the best line of defense you can have. The rapidfire sound may even scare zombies away as opposed to the one shot sound. They too can easily remove a head and hold much more ammunition. Remember to stock up on ammo. You will run out during an attack, you will have to reload. You cannot just fire a shotgun over and over without reloading.

If you are forced into a close encounter fight you will want the supreme zombie fighting weapon. The Chainsaw. Use it. Embrace it. Make it part of you. Never let it into the wrong hands.

Which brings me to my next point. Beware of how competent your zombie is. Fresh zombies have not been hit with rigor mortis, they will be fast and wild. Some can even retain knowledge to use weapons and tools. There is a chance you could encounter the rare but possible, smart zombie. No rigor mortis, still aware of himself, but also crazy and hungry. He can still fire a weapon and dodge a bullet. Most undead zombies will stand there and take the shell to the head, this one will dodge and try to fight the gun away from you.

If you can maintain your weapons, hold your defenses, and wait out until help comes, you may survive a zombie apocalypse.

But be warned, there is one scenario deadliest of all. The Lovecraftian Frankenstein Zombie scenario. By pure chance, you might be encounter a reanimated corpse made up of multiple corpses to be some form of super soldier. If may even have animal parts to give it an edge. Chances are you won't be able to take this bastard of science down with a bullet to the head at all. With these things, it has to be fire or electricution. Something to really damage the flesh.

Keep your nose clean, be alert, always carry extra ammo, never go out alone if you can avoid it. Try to find a group to survive with, being trapped alone may drive you mad. And remember, always run from zombies if you can. Do not stand your ground, they will eat your brains.

Best Week Ever

So I have one week before I make my presentation about this blog and what I learned from it and how well I accomplished my goal. My goal being to establish my ability as a writer to hold an audience which apparently I haven't. But then again I was also supposed to make social commentaries every week but things change. So I've decided to go apeshit and do one post per day now, not counting anything I throw on helium, until I have to report. I have a list of topics now too. I've decided to stick with what I know and blog about that, and this is what I know: crap. I'm going to make a list of things to talk about every week, maybe that way it would work better, hell I should have done that before. But now I'm going to do it, and maybe I'll keep doing it after the weblogs and wikis class is over, depending on whether or not I finally get some response.

Now my topic list. Seven topics, seven days:
Zombies
Picking a fight online
Comic Book Industry
Why Democracy doesn't work
People, Places, and Things I hate
Transformers
How we pick an exact date, time, and method of pulling out of Iraq safely and leaving it capable of sustaining itself without our presence or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.

It's getting that time

I'm supposed to be finishing up this project so I can present it in class. But the problem is I do not have anything to present. I really don't know what I'm supposed to present and that's why I am not going first at all.

I'm slightly ashamed of you blog. I demand you get readers and make them comment on you or I will do something not nice. Or not. Either way it'd be nice to have a comment to present.

I'm so behind my project proposal it isn't even funny.

Helium some more

Another Helium post. I've been meaning to do more, but never find a topic I want to do. But I finally did and here it is. I'm just going to link it this time, I think that way if I actually do have a reader here you would go rate it there for sure.

The Internet is a vast wasteland

The internet is not for everyone. No matter what anyone says, there needs to be some kind of regulation to the internet. Don't get me wrong, I do believe anything and everything should be available on the internet. But not everyone should be accessing it. Especially kids. Especially if they are being given laptops to use in school now. I like that idea, my senior year at high school was cool because we got laptops to use. Even though they were iBooks. But that was high school. Elementary kids should not be given access to the vast wasteland of cybercrap that is the Internet. I think teaching kids to be techno-literate is a good idea, but that comes with the responsibility to make sure they don't start doing things they shouldn't. Who honestly believes that giving a kid an expensive laptop and sending them off to use it as they see fit is a good idea?

What happens when a kid grows up on computers without the proper knowledge of what he sees on the internet? Well he becomes me. But imagine an entire generation of me. I know, scary. At least I have the good sense to avoid internet jargon.

What worries me about kids growing up on the net is the blow that the state writing takes. Lolz, IMHO, OMG, 331902 whatever crap that happens when you start writing in net shorthand has apparently been slipping into this generation's writing. Is this the death of professionalism? Is blogging in general the death of professionalism in writing?

As blogging becomes more and more mainstream, more people begin a life of writing creatively. However, they are also completely untrained as writers. They're just typing away, with no knowledge of spelling and grammar. No concept of what they are writing and the effects of what they write. Commonly it seems they have no idea that anyone can read it.

Consequence is the greatest teacher. The internet is no man's land. Let's think this through, it connects to every country, everyone. Rules and regulations on the internet are vague. It seems to be that the general rule is do what you want without fear of consequence. Total Anarchy with the appearance of a set of rules guiding people. Have you ever been on a message board? Trolls are everywhere. I theorize that 80% of the internet denizen population is troll, and most of them are probably the same person. That stereotype about the nerdy 12 year old pissant kid posting on the internet to complain and whine about things and then harassing everyone by using poor grammar.

Now, harassment and the internet come hand in hand. If you are on the internet, especially while blogging, you should expect someone to flame you. This is what happens. Now, even if a death threat is given, that's typical internet behavior. Sometimes however, it goes too far. Take Kathy Sierra for example. What makes this different from your average blogger getting a troll? Well she's apparently a prominent blogger. I don't know what that means or how you get that title but it seems to mean she's somewhat celebrity. Now when you can be seen offline and actually do something you say online whilst offline, that changes the rules. If the harassment goes to the point where you actually feel threatened, someone has gone too far. Anonymity is good while avoiding internet sickos, but when the sicko is anonymous himself, then he can do what he wants without fear of consequence. What should be done involves the Internet Service Provider. You should be able to complain to an ISP when one of their users is overly harassing, the problem is you get the people who just run around stealing Wireless to go online. Logically, there has to be a way to get around that and find these people. Have I made death threats? Yes. Have they ever been to the extent that they become believable death threats? Maybe that one to whomever gets between me and Rosario Dawson, but they are never intended as such. Most are not. You should be able to read and detect the tone the writer of said threat intends, and with a generation of random key seekers out there blogging and commenting on blogs, that's not really happening.

I agree with the concept of a Blogger's Code of Conduct. But alas, it can't be properly enforced without whatever is providing the blog service to, well, enforce the code of conduct and bloggers don't want that. Bloggers don't want anyone to tell them what to do. No one on the internet does. That needs to change. You have power on the internet. You can express your opinion and influence others. That is a great power, and with great power comes great responsibility. You have to be responsible for what you do on the internet. You have to be held accountable for your actions online as well as offline. Maybe we need Big Brother, someone watching everything we do, because we online people get out of control when we have no consequence. Hell offline you need to be held accountable for everything or havoc and anarchy reigns. That's how society is kept together, consequences keep everything moving in order. That's just how life works.

Then again, I do completely support anarchy, because when everything goes to hell, the rebuilding process can begin. And we just might need to start over through the chaos. It's complicated. But listen to me internet, and listen good: Be good or else. You don't like the concept of someone censoring you? Too bad. Deal with it. Sometimes, people need to be censored, because they suck and they just need to be shut up. Everyone has the right to their own opinion, but they do not have the right to express it because yes, your opinion is probably wrong. Deal.


Does anyone read this? Is this living up to my project proposal?

Spatula is a fun word to say.

So, even after coming to the conclusion I've failed my Blog Project, I'm still blogging about it. Read my blog, comment on it. That's all I ask of you Internet people. Would you like a post to comment on?

Scrubs is a fantastic show. I have recently purchased all the seasons on DVD, as well as reserved the next season coming out. I am watching Scrubs Season 4 right now as I type. This is the third greatest show on television, right behind Lost which is right behind Heroes. Watch these television shows... hey what if I start reviewing stuff? That might work as a blog project. But anyway, Scrubs is a fantastic show.

I awkwardly have parallels in my life to Scrubs. For instance, I am a Resident at a Hospital with a crazy mentor who hates me but really cares for everyone deep down as well as living in fear of a janitor out to get me while I know I have my black best friend whom I bought a stuffed dog with to watch my back and... wait no that's not me at all. But I do ...nope, nothing. That's what's cool about Scrubs, no correlations between television and my life. That creeps me out especially when most shows I watch are Sci-Fi or overly action related usually involving the end of the world or zombies.

Man I gotta watch out for zombies.

I sincerely enjoy the clever dialouge of Scrubs. The cartoonish antics of imaginary time for JD are greatly humorous. I can watch any episode of Scrubs over and over again. Maybe it's actually the best show on TV then.

LOST now, I can go back and watch it with people to show them how awesome Lost is and why they should shut up and get into it. Now into the third season I really can't not watch it. It's so plot twisted that I am somewhat angered by the end of the episode when nothing really happens. It's time to start answering unanswered questions damnit. Damn you Lost writers. Figure out what you're doing and finish it. I may kill someone out of tension over Lost. Yes, it's that extreme.

But my favorite television show is Heroes. What really gets me about this show is how the use of the super powers in a little bit at a time is just enough to make me have a fanboygasm. I think that's what makes the show click. You have this great story and great characters, and once you get them together it almost writes itself into a bastardly awesome story that you cannot turn away from.(Yes, I'm using bastard as an adjective now) The superpowers don't play a big role, it's the characters that drive the story. When the powers get used it comes off as a nice little extra, at least for a big fan of the show like me. It pushes the show over the edge of cool moments. I especially like when multiple powers get used, especially by the main character Peter Petrelli. His power is basically to have whatever power he encounters. The ultimate power really. I like the theory it throws out too about super powers like mutation, better than the X-men explaination. Evolution dictates the powers, the survival needs build the abilities. There's no laserbeam eyes or transformations into giant steel skinned Russians, but there are some things you have suspend belief for. At first they threw out some powers like super healing factor or telepathy, but eventually it evolved into X-men live action with a strong central story about diverting disaster with crazy super powers like nuclear radiation control, time travel, intangibility, flight, and pyrokinesis. But whatever because much bigger super powers equals cooler scenes. Eventually, it looks like they will spit out some great fight scenes between the villain of the series and Peter Petrelli. That would just make great may sweeps and a great season finale. See, these writers know what they're doing, I'm talking to you JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof! Why? Because one of them is Jeph Loeb. You do something like Heroes you get a comic book writer, especially a legend like Loeb. Hey, Heroes comes back with new episodes on Monday. Watch it.

All this show needs is a superpowered crazy mercenary with a healing factor and spider-man like get up who likes to kill and make wisecracks and nearly schitzophrenic dialouge while doing so named after a Eastwood movie reminiscent of Ryan Reynolds on crack.

Deadpool is awesome.


That concludes my post-realizing I have a crappy blog post. Someone should comment on it. Give me something to do. Hell, start a blog war with me. I'll say anything to piss people off. Jesus was a black jew muslim and potentially a homosexual. See?

I actually have evidence to back that up too.

I live in a Douglas Adams book.

I'm fairly sure I live inside the mind of Douglas Adams. Which frightens me because he's supposedly dead. That and the bizarre twists of logic I live with everyday. The strange and quirky adventures I go through everyday feel like they belong in the Hitchhiker's guide. That may just be because I have been rescued seconds before the destruction of the Earth by a crazed party seeking friend only to go on a journey that ends with me returning to mysteriously revived planet Earth several times by now. Actually I think life would be better off living in a story by Douglas Adams. Seems like I wouldn't have to deal with a lot of the stuff I do then. Mainly because most of that stuff would not exist, but regardless, I would have to deal with some form of bills, gas prices, moving, and all that nonsense of everyday human life.

I'm actually in the process of moving right now and am not sure if I will finish this post before I pack up my computer and send it on over to my new house. Nope. My friends just showed up randomly to help me move. Clicking save as a draft and...

Three days later I finally get my computer up and running on fancy wireless now with the ability to pirate multiple wireless connections. Now I'm bored and for some strange reason my new room makes me feel very sleepy. Maybe it's because I'm exhausted by the time I get to my bed through the piles of stuff in bags and boxes; which I should really sort.

I've come to the conclusion in the past few days while thinking of how to finish this draft post, and how more and more I seem to encounter Hitchhiker references, that my original project proposal for this blog has basically failed. I have no audience, as far as I know there is only one person reading my blog not in the class. I feel like I've failed. It sucks. I've thrown it out there, over and over again but nothing comes from it. What can I do I wonder?

I have a class at Bemidji State University, called Weblogs and Wikis, interestingly enough required for my BFA. This is the blog project from that class. I proposed to write social commentary every week about something. I think I got the idea while watching Best Week Ever on VH1. I kinda did that, but I also just blogged. I think I should go back and start some new blog entries for social commentary. But after actually looking at society I am disgusted by it and do not want to even acknowledge it exists. I have the strange desire to completely destroy it all and start over, Mad Max style. However my mood is very unstable and sometimes I'm completely and utterly disgusted by what I see in everyday life and then a second later I can't live without it. Perhaps I should switch up my project idea a little. (Great idea this late in the game) Society is broad. I should focus more locally. On my friends and their society. I have some weird ass friends.

But it is a nice day out and I am sitting here typing instead of frolfing. So I'm going to hold off on doing that today and go out into the sun. Or go get some Chinese Food because I'm hungry. One of the two.

This also took forever to post for some reason blogger kept giving me error messages about not being connected when no other site did. I was worried about my wireless card for a second. But now Blogger just craps out on my connection. I don't know why it took four days to post this when I finished it so long ago. Damn you blogger connection.

Someone stole my CDs

This morning, I woke up to go to work and got in my car and noticed some things from my side armrest were on the passenger seat. I look inside and my CD case is gone. Not the face plate to the player or the player itself or anything else, just my case of burned cds and stuff made up of random mp3s. I don't know who did it, but I'm going to get them back. And I'm going to kill whoever did this. Slowly.

I love Rosario Dawson

Not just in a "I love her in ____" kind of way or the characters she's portrayed. I love the person. I'm fairly sure I'm obsessed with Rosario Dawson. Everything about her, at least as much as I can know without ever actually having met her, leads me to believe she is the one and only for me. It's like the One-Above-All sent her here just for me sometimes; how else does one describe the appearence on Earth of a goddess of a woman who loves comics and nerdy shit as much as I do? Now there's no doubt there's a shitload of geeks thinking the same thing, but I will kill each and everyone of them if I have to. Just saying. There only way I can truly describe my feelings for her is that I would do things with her, that could probably get me arrested or at least sentenced to an eternity in Hell. My creepy infatuation will more than likely get me in trouble some day. Probably the day I decide to attend some big Comic Con where she appears. Ever see Borat? Yeah I can't promise I won't do that.

However, I can promise that I will go see Grindhouse simply because she's in it. That's the only reason I saw Alexander, which I shut off after realizing she wasn't coming back after the 89th hour of that movie. I think I may just call in that favor Kevin Smith owes me and make him introduce me to her. Now I saw favor, but really it's just the ammount of money I spent on his Spider-Man and Black Cat comic that took four years to produce a handful of issues. Seriously, what the hell? I'm still pissed about that. What did he do in the meantime of writing that series that ended up really going nowhere? Jersey Girl. F'n Jersey Girl. What did Jersey Girl make him realize? He's only good at his View Askew world. Kevin Smith you owe me like 20 bucks and four years of waiting time. Ok, so I admit I'd still pay the money to get his work. You've got talent Kevin Smith, but seriously, what the hell man?

Speaking of Spider-Man, I'm very excited about Spider-Man 3 coming out. I'm considering forcing myself into a coma until opening night. However, that'd just be silly and there's always the chance I might miss Rosario Dawson randomly appearing in front of me needing me to save her from an evil Sith Lord... that later turns out to be her father who is also my father and... damnit Star Wars sucks. Really, that sucks. Really really sucks. I f'n hate Star Wars. Star Trek is much better. Why? One word: Picard.

When you think about it, Star Wars was a piss poor movie. The story was pretty basic and characterization vague and uneven. The special effects being cutting edge are what made it so cool. However, once you watch it and pay attention you realize there is nothing to this story. The Empire, which besides the destruction of Alderan really doesn't seem that evil, is really weak. Especially if they put a self destruction opening on their battleship the Death Star. Think back, what if anything made the Empire seem evil? Just Alderan. Sure the Sith are evil but the Empire seemed to work just fine. The rebellion seemed to be what caused the problems. Plus there was this super powerful Sith lord Darth Vader and the Emporer who were so strong with the Force, yet they couldn't find a simple rebel base but could with ease wipe out the Jedi? Luke Skywalker made out with his sister and had no response to that concept at all. No one did.

There was just way too many plot holes and logical fallicies in that movie. Star Trek had them too, but hey, they also had f'n Patrick Stewart. But when you get down to it, the superior Sci-Fi program is always Doctor Who. The greatest sci-fi story of all time involves whatever the Doctor is doing at any given time.

....um. I just looked over what I wrote. I feel geeky. Super geeky. But I have an insane ammount of pop-culture knowledge like this in my brain. I really hope that's a turn on to Rosario Dawson.

....Man now that's obsession.

I don't really have a point to this post after all I guess. Just killing time until the Chimps make their move. Or until Lost comes on. Either/or really. Did I ever mention how awesome Lost is? Because it is. Go watch it.

One day, I'm just going to blog about what I see on TV. Hopefully it's Rosario Dawson.

Dude

Yeah. I'm excited.




The greatest thing England has ever produced, second only to Doctor Who and Red Dwarf.

This scares me.

Chimps. Using. Spears.

Does that not scare anyone else? Why does it scare me? Evolution at work.

Sure, scientists are all excited because it's a huge discovery. It's a potential look at the early evolution of man. But these are tool users and now weapon users. I'm fairly sure you can teach a chimp to use a gun, and I know they can perform martial arts. Now this may just be my overbearing paranoia, but considering we only recently really began studying the closest relative of the human race, I think it's safe to say we don't know enough about this potential threat. And I say potential threat because what happens when some psychopath hippie animal rights lover trains one of these chimps to properly use weapons? It goes on and trains other chimpanzees, who train their young, who train their young, until generations have gained and refined the ability to use and build weapons. What happens if someone dinks around and mucks with some chimp DNA making them able to learn faster and teaching them how to make explosives? Nuclear explosives?

I'm pretty sure we as a species are not ready for a war with the chimps. Especially since it's just what the Dolphins are waiting for.

More Helium

I'm really getting into this Helium thing. I'm going to start posting everything I post there here. But hey, I'm still going to link to them because people should read and rate. As well as write on there. Hey, try to top my score, it could be a fun game of cat and also cat.

Without further ado:




It would be great to just go ahead and declare "the Devil made me do it" everytime you did something bad. It would be amazing if you really could provide evidence that the Devil made you do anything. The ultimate scapegoat for natural human behavior is clearly Lord Satan Lucifer Morningstar of Hell. But does he exist, and if so is he influencing the evils of the world? For that answer you would have to first define evil as a universal agent. Then you have to ask yourself, why is one being representing all the evil and would that mean God represents all good? Then why does He let evil happen in the first place? Existential mumbo-jumbo aside, it would be illogical to presume one being influences the flow of evil in the cosmos.

Especially if that one being is the Devil. There are multiple evil figureheads in multiple religions. Not just a Devil running a Hell and corrupting souls for all eternity. Would that mean the Devil is just a part of a grand scheme of multiple evil figured heads posed against a grand scheme of multiple good figureheads? Or is the answer much more simple? Do all these evil beings, the corrupters of man, just represent the evil men do and act as that ultimate scapegoat? Is it a universal guilt that the human race makes up an evil figurehead to represent their own evil deeds? A collective consequence for doing what is seen as evil makes sense. There are taboos in every culture, even in the animal kingdom. Things you should not do, each with a consequence to make sure they are not done. It's simple logic that an offensive act will more than likely be repeated without the presence of consequence. This offensive act can be seen as evil, and the performer would be evil. The performer would have to make a conscious decision to perform the act, and base that decision on the existence of a consequence.

Is there a chance the performer could be persuaded into performing said act by an external source? Of course, people manipulate people all the time. People. Not a figurehead for evil. Not the devil. The devil as an excuse only works so long before logic is applied. The devil as the character he is known as today is a composite of many different stories and characters from cultures all over the world. He is the fallen angel, the hoofed and horned master of hell, this big red monster. But that's all from years of interpretation over the years. The image and character are manipulated by man, the moral of the story of the devil remains the same though; And that's the point. The devil exists as the ultimate villain in the grand story of the human race. He represents the evil we can achieve as people and the consequence in case we ever do. He is an excuse. That's the point of Satan. "Do not do this or bad things happen." Is there a wingless angel, cast down by God, constantly plotting against the human race, sitting deep under the earth in a lava pit called Hell? More than likely not. But just in case he is down there, let's not do anything evil. The devil is basically the first smoke detector. Chances are your smoke detector will never go off in your life, at least not for anything serious, but just in case it's good to have around. That's Satan for you.

Of course, the Devil's greatest trick was convincing the world he never existed after all.

Helium

So I wrote something on Helium. It's pretty geeky. But this is what I wrote. If you like it, this is the link to it there.


Anyway:


When judging and rating the best villains in superhero movies there are several things that have to be taken into consideration. Is the villain evil or a victim? What exactly does he or she do to make them a villain? Memorable quote or scene? Classic fight scene with hero? If you want to get technical you should also consider how close to the source material the villain is portrayed. Now when using this profile to rate the best villains in superhero movies the following ten nicely fit the top ten bracket of villainy.

10 - Dr. Arcane. The villain from a not that well known movie about a not that well known superhero. The Swamp Thing. A man turned into the living swamp, or the swamp turned into a man perhaps. Either way, Swamp Thing was a cult classic movie with a decidedly evil villain. The mad scientist Dr. Anton Arcane had his men raid a lab in the swamp that was run by Dr. Alec Holland who was on the verge of a major discovery in botany and biology. A plant that could live anywhere, imagine the possibilities. However the side effect of the formula for this super-plant was explosive, literally. Arcane wanted the formula for his own uses and had an army of mercenaries steal everything they could and burn the place, in the process dousing Holland with the formula and setting him on fire to fall into the swamp and emerge as the Swamp Thing. Arcane mercilessly pursues his enemy the Swamp Thing and a survivor from the lab in order to get the formula, even going so far as to cut off the swamp thing's arm. Once he obtained the formula he was so bold as to drink it to see the effects it would have on him, unleashing his inner evil monster. This cult favorite was an early Wes Craven villain as well, that counts for something.

9 - Doctor Doom. Now, he was not that faithful to the source material, which is truly a shame as the comic book Dr. Doom is by all rights top villain in his world. Here is a man who is more than a genius on the level of Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic himself, but truly so self involved his ego is the only thing that keeps him from winning against the Fantastic Four and conquering the world. However, his movie counterpart while no where near as good of a character has his own redeeming qualities. For instance he is still a genius, he's got a bone to pick with Reed Richards and still pulls off the arrogance of the Latverian dictator well. However he's just a businessman here. He was playing Lex Luthor with Doctor Doom's body. Doom with his electric bursts was a nice fight scene. He even manipulated the Thing into giving up his powers, knowing the machine used to do so was untested and potentially fatal. "But Ben Grimm is a mere nothing to the excellence of Doom" Julian McMahon really pulls that arrogance off nicely but does not portray the evil side to Doom as well. Doom is still a menacing villain for the Four enough to rank in the top 10, but not up to his full potential as the mad dictator genius with a serious ego problem. The movie version was just a villainous genius turned into a monster who enjoyed the power he was given and wanted to be stronger for his own evil purposes. A memorable quote would be "Susan let's not fight." Right before his fight with Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman. What makes it memorable is how calm, arrogant, and pretentious he made it sound. A great movie villain.

8 - Deacon Frost. Stephen Dorff really brings this character out. In the comics Deacon Frost is an older man and his vampire powers were different, he wasn't the most menacing of villains. But the movie version from Blade is much more exciting as a character. He is a young brash vampire leader, a turned vampire as opposed to a born vampire like most of the leaders. He comes up with this plan to turn himself into a truly immortal vampire god and ravage the human population whom he thinks of as cattle. His consideration of the humans he feeds on as nothing but a food source and so low that he would throw a child into the path of a movie bus is menacing enough, but what makes him even more scary is that he actually succeeds in his plan and becomes immortal until Blade finds a way to incapacitate him by clotting the blood that makes him immortal and essential blow him up. The most memorable scene, aside from a crudely CGI blood sequence, would be Deacon Frost showing up to talk to Blade in daylight, by wearing layers upon layers of sunscreen cementing how much of a bad ass Deacon Frost is in this movie. A rare occasion that the movie version is better than the source material.

7 - Mystique. The femme fatal shapeshifter from the X-men franchise. Using her powers to further the agenda of the Brotherhood. Her memorable fight scene with Wolverine in the Statue of Liberty was only topped by the fact that technically, she was buck naked the entire time she was on screen. She makes the ranking almost completely by fanboyism. Her attempt to seduce Wolverine in the sequel because he cut her is just so sick and twisted on her part. It's when she loses her abilities that makes her even more so a threat; A woman scorned and all that. Mystique is an evil temptress with the cunning to further her own agenda all the while pretending to be on someone else's side. Except for her quiet attitude, she's a really good transitions from the comics. In the comic form, Mystique is even crueler and has abandoned her children or tried to kill them if they got in her way as X-men. An technically, she's naked. An evil, naked super villain babe is always a top ten contender.

6 - Ra's Al Ghul. The Demon's Head. Batman's trainer and master of deception. A truly evil man who leads a league of assassins in an attempt to control the world. Batman Begins was such a great movie that the inclusion of Ra's was so cool and then the twist with his return at the end was just an awesome way to start the Batman's career. Besides the Joker and Two-Face, Ra's is the greatest enemy of Batman. The movie version proves why he's such a threat. Representing this father figure for a young and still-in-training Bruce Wayne only to turn on him without hesitation adds a great element to the story. There is a great in-joke or easter egg for comic fans with this movie version as well. When Ra's reveals himself and asks "...or is Ra's Al Ghul immortal?" referencing the fact that Ra's Al Ghul is immortal in the comics is a nice touch. He makes a great villain to start out a great hero on.

5 - General Zod. A villain who could stand toe to toe with the Last Son of Krypton, even if he could be beaten with a random cellophane shield that came from nowhere. Zod has been one of the bigger villains of Superman's career and he's only faced him once or twice in continuity of the comics. Another Kryptonian, powered by the Earth's yellow sun only also a complete military genius and a ruthless bastard to boot. Zod provided the archetype for a good superhero movie villain. Someone who could provide a fight scene with the hero, but also affect him without using his powers. He also uttered one of the most memorable movie quotes ever. "Kneel before Zod." Terrence Stamp provided one of the greatest villains ever in his portrayal of General Zod, the evil version of Superman.

4 - Bullseye. He never misses. The greatest assassin on the planet. Armed with whatever he can get his hands on, Bullseye is without a doubt the most dangerous person alive. A pencil, a paper clip, his own tooth even, is all he needs. Collin Farrel gave him this bestial side that fit so perfectly to the core of the character. Bullseye is a vicious psychopath who just wants to kill for the sheer fun of it and he does with ease. He may just be one of the most faithful adapted characters the silver screen has ever seen. All he needed was his "bloody costume" and he would have been perfect. His murder of Elektra was a classic villain move as well. When everything has gone to hell, he just goes and makes it worse for the hero Daredevil. His obsession with the man who made him miss gives a great character dynamic as well. He is definitely worthy of being in any kind of top ten villain list, comic based or otherwise.

3 - Magneto. Victim turned villain. A sympathetic character who's also just so arrogant about his position it makes him one of the greatest. Magneto was the Malcolm X to Charles Xavier's Martin Luther King. A mutant, persecuted his entire life, but gifted with one of the greatest powers of all time; the complete mastery of magnetism. Magneto's attempt to mutate the world leaders, and his indifference to weather or not his device really works marks him as a villain. His decision to help his enemies, the X-men, and then betray them once he got what he wanted makes him a great villain. His attempt to control the powerhouse that is the Phoenix that leads to his final loss at the end of X-men 3 returns him to the role of victim. He thought himself a God and paid for it with his greatest fear. Magneto being played by the great Ian Mckellan didn't hurt his rating as one of the top villains of all time one bit either.

2 - The Joker. Batman's greatest enemy. A murdering psychopathic clown is definitely the best idea for a villain. The natural evil of a clown, combined with maniacal genius, makes him the perfect nemesis to the stern and fearsome Batman. While Jack Nicholson's Joker could have been crazier, he was definitely pulling off the evil side quite nicely. Consider the amount of people with the fear of clowns, and consider what happens when they find out there is a psychotic killer clown out there stalking the streets. He's John Wayne Gacey, with a comical side. The Joker had the permanent disfiguring of a smile on his face and pasty white skin. The way it was portrayed was creepy enough to properly produce the Joker as the great villain he has always been in the comic books onto the big screen.

1 - The Green Goblin. Evil industrialist Norman Osborn, taking his experiment too far and turning himself into a psychotic and violent super villain. Norman Osborn is the Lex Luthor of the Marvel Universe. Willem Dafoe is one of the most villainous looking actors on the planet. Put them together and you have the greatest movie villain ever. Killing the one person who could have helped him immediately after getting his powers was only the first step in his evolution of evil. To further prove how easy he slipped into the role of villain, he went on a violent "industrial espionage" mission as the Green Goblin against his company's main competitor within minutes of getting his powers. He killed off the inner threat to his control of his company, endangering his own son and hundreds of innocent bystanders, many of whom were children. He wasn't out to take over the world, he was out for his own devious agenda. Making sure he stayed on top, regardless of who got in his way. His obsession with Spider-Man is something of comic book legend. The entire point to his existence is ruining Peter Parker's life. He lives to torture his enemy, and really nothing else. If he appears to be occupied with some other project he's really just planning what to do to Spidey. The movie incarnation nicely sets up that characteristic for the Green Goblin. Here is Peter Parker, Norman Osborn's son's best friend. He was the son he always wanted, and thought of him as such up to the point of discovering he was in reality Spider-Man. Feeling betrayed by the surrogate son, he turns his attention from his own goals to either getting the son back as Spider-Man or kill him. He truly makes for a great villain by having no regard for anyone's safety except his own. He proves this by not only threatening the life of an elderly and kind old woman in Aunt May, but endangering the lives of children at parades and on trains. Not much can match an act as evil as threatening the elderly and children. His death by impalement on his own glider solidified his position as the greatest superhero movie villain. By pretending to be in a moment of clarity and begging Spider-Man, Peter Parker, his friend, to help him before the Goblin took over again only to attack the distracted Spider-Man with a deathblow earns him a memorable place in the halls of villainy.

Anna Nicole Smith

"She's so outrageous!" Yeah ok. I don't give a flying fuck. This is something I've been thinking about for a while now. So she died. Yeah, not that unexpected. What bothers me is the ammount of media coverage on the subject.

I opened my web browser today to find that on my homepage, which is just the default page my computer came with I guess, was a big picture of Anna in one of those stupid over-the-top poses with the caption "Drug Overdose Killed Anna Nicole Smith" now that's fine. I guess, the results were in and they had to report on them. But what got to me was that the quote on the pagelink was "was it an accident or foul play?" Now clicking the link I find the subquote under the title is no foul play suspected so I'm forced to declare what the fuck? Ok. The media went way overboard on Anna Nicole's death. Now that the results of the autopsy are in I suspect a second wave on media hype to come cashing in on her death. "Drug overdose! Who's responsible next on CNN?!"

CNfreakin'N. They just went overboard with this story, and for that I blame Ted Turner, but that's not the point. While the CNN website was pretty decent at reporting the death, the actual television channel was insane. They covered her death with some strange almost 9/11 level updates and reporting. What the hell? But at least they can say MSNBC was worse. Not even E! covered it that much.

What the hell indeed I proclaimed as it donned on me watching the Daily Show as they ripped into CNN for the coverage and first gave me the idea to write this blog post but thereby being hypocritical. However, seriously, I am going to make a prediction here.

We as a country are at War. Not the good kind of war, but the ugly tedious kind that a nation our size can only get into these days with minor countries. The media loves to cover and scrutinize and propagandaize that war. It also loves distracting you from that war because I believe they realize how much they manipulate the public and at a certain point they need to come by and distract them from what they've done. It's like the dad telling a scary story to his kid and realizing how scared he's made his kid so he has to calm him or her down so they can sleep. Anna Nicole Smith's death provided that opportunity. Hence the coverage. Maybe it's intentional, maybe it's not. Maybe it's a subconscious effort on their part because they are scaring themselves. Whatever it is, it worked. After the reporting of her death people were talking about it and the level of coverage it got. Not what's going on politically in the world. Even Larry King got in on it, way to let me down Larry. But it's ok, because I have a feeling it just came about due to you being on CNN and that damn Ted Turner. At least you weren't just talking about it to pump up your own image, like Chyna did on your show. But man, seriously when you get King to cover this you got some problems with society.

And then came good ol' Anderson Cooper. I like this guy. This is the kind of newsman I can trust and because of that I don't trust him. But I like his style; he's got a good head on his shoulders when it comes to the media. "There's a war on" Yeah. That's right, bring them back in to reality not celebreality. I went to look up just what he said and found a neat little site called Think Progress(the name is pure coincedence) and then remembered how after saying There's a War on! he immediately went and reported on Anna's death. He just lost man points. But then I found out FOX called him Paris Hilton for saying he's going to be sticking to the facts. Getting the FOX News people mad at you earns you some man points back Mr. Cooper. Those guys suck.

But yeah, so because of this I discovered TMZ.com and just kinda read through it as I took a break typing this post. I again further my stance that it's time for a huge ass change to society because I keep finding the worst of the worst out here in the internet. Anna Nicole is dead. Let's just drop the subject.



I am really unnerved that she was compared to Princess Di though. Just have to say that. That is so wrong.


Also, I have decided I would enjoy Hangin' with Mr. Anderson Cooper. We should go bowling sometime, dude. Get you some man points.

Today is my birthday

These are the things I've learned in the year's time since my last birthday:

Women are evil.
What goes up does not have to come down if it so chooses.
The entire Wikipedia.
How bad ass 300 is.
How hard it is to force yourself to update a blog.
Quantum Mechanics
Stephen Hawkings is perfectly fine just really lazy.
Hollywood is made up of assholes completely, there is absolutely no good person left in that business.
Most importantly though, I think I learned that indeed, the entire universe revolves around me.

These are the things I want for my birthday:

A bunny.
A better computer.
Cheap gas.
Chocolate Milk.
A monkey.
Someone to read my blog and google bomb it.
The collected works of one Dr. Seuss.
More chocolate milk.
Money would be nice.
World Peace.
Very perverted things.

So I've been thinking...

It's about time for a good old fashioned civil war. I mean seriously. A war. Internally within the country. One side against another, chaos consuming everything, until finally something better emerges. That's what this country needs. A good shot in the arm. A reboot if you will. Perhaps even a modern renaissance. But first, chaos.

First of all, why have I been thinking about this? Because ever since the 2000 election, I've noticed a strange split amongst the American people. Sure, politics have always kept a seperation between people but come on, this is different. World's changing. People can pronounce Arab words now. Political comedy equals big ratings on TV. Oh yeah, and there's a little conflict or something happening east of here. But there is a definite split in the public now. Democrats vs Republicans. You are one or the other, regardless of whether you think so.

It's always the democrats vs republicans now. The republicans started the war. The liberal media blames Bush. Bush, bush bush bushy butt. That's how I'm seeing this being represented. A war of Democrats and Republicans. And that's how children see it. That's the scary part. The kids see it that way. I remember a time when kids rebelled against their parents. Now you get the hippie parents raising hippie kids to infect the other kids with hippiness. Or you get the assholes raising assholes. Or rednecks raising rednecks. There is no rebellion. There needs to be a rebellion.

But first there needs to be a reason. A reason to rebell, not just because it's cool and it'll get you laid. The old ways have failed, or at least are on that course. It's time for the new way. Every so often a beta challenges the alpha and wins thereby becoming the new Alpha. Get it? I feel like I'm jumping around here. Let me explain this more coherently.

Because of the current conditions the American public has built around itself, a split over politics, hatred towards government, and in my opinion the unanimous decision to become retarded sheep, there's a slight chance it's going to collapse on itself. We are infidels, remember. Anyway, because of that there's a rare opportunity here. An opportunity for a change in the government.

The young and impressionable and intelligent can be manipulated into starting a war. A civil war that causes mass panic and chaos in Washington, disrupting business in the political world. Anarchy. But that's not what I want, that's a means to an end. If things can somehow deteroriate to an anarachist state of a disrupted government and thousands tried to replace it, then it's a nice distraction. It's how they took over in V for Vendetta, at least in the poorly translated to film version of it. I don't want to take over and I don't want anyone who is currently involved in the governing game to take over. What I want is change. Just natural change that comes after a civil war breaks everything apart. It could be worse than it is now, or it could be better, either way I think it's worth it just to see what happens. Because think of the big picture. The United States, of today, in a civil war? What does that do to the rest of the world?

The big picture, in my mind, is achieving a better society through chaos. I honestly don't know what I'm talking about, but it seems to me like a good idea to break into a civil war, that more than likely would spread and then unite into a solid unit and let society evolve that way. I'm also partial to a surefire way to get the population numbers under control. Or maybe I just like chaos, but one day, probably soon, something similar to this will happen.

People are stupid. Especially when angry and arguing. The way things are going, I'm not going to be surprised if there is some kind of democrat vs republican civil war that spreads dangerously. Then again, I do secretly wish to live in the world of Mad Max.

Why I don't drink

Logic. That is pretty much the sole reason I do not consume alcohol. I do not understand this obsession with drinking everyone has. Where is the logic? Alcohol is pretty much a poison. There is absolutely no logic behind putting a poison into yourself on purpose just for the brief feeling it gives you especially when you are then complaining/bragging about the after-effects such as vomitting or dehydration.

It also tastes like shit.

Who decided that it was a tastey treat that should be consumed on a regular basis? I'm convinced it is an addictive substance. You ever see a heavy drinker try to stop drinking? They usually fail. I don't understand the reasoning behind becomng a heavy drinker. Personally, I enjoy having a functionary liver.

Someone, explain the reasoning to me. What makes drinking worthwhile? The brief feeling of intoxication? Complaints about having a hangover or the mess made while drunk never registers as "Hey, this might not be a good idea" to anyone?

Seriously, I do not understand it at all. It tastes bad, it smells bad, it ends bad. Why get drunk? I do not enjoy the feeling of intoxication so I just cannot fathom why it's supposed to be so fun that it's all people tend to do for fun. "Hey want to go to a movie? Let's get drunk first." Or get high or something along that lines. I do not understand the concepts of becoming intoxicated, either via alcohol or drugs. What is the point? The only logical answer I can ever draw from that question is that the user's life is so crappy that they need an extra boost of an external source to find pleasure. Which is sad and I think altogether to simple of an answer, until you start thinking it over and realize it's probably true. And then considering the vast number of drinkers and drug users out there what does that say about the human race in general?

This saddens me because I honestly can't find any other reason logically for this question. Why drink? Because life sucks? That's unacceptable. I refuse to believe the human race is so addictive to external sources of pleasure. How would it affect the evolution of a species to seek out drinking and drug use? It may already have. Alcoholism, addiciton, it's all genetically inheritable now. What does that mean? I'm not saying hundreds upon thousands of years of human evolution has been corrupted by the discovery of intoxication, but it's something to consider.

All I want to know is why people find it fun? It fucking tastes like shit. Do I have some sort of screwed up tastebud system that I can't register the fun taste of beer? I just don't like the feeling and am sick of everyone around me getting wasted all the time like it's going out of style. St. Patrick's day really made me think about this when I wandered around town watching people my age, younger people and older people all running around getting drunk. These people were waiting for an excuse to drink while many were also just drinking as they usually do. Seriously, all I want to know is what's the big deal?

I guess I just don't get it.

I have gas

Actually, I don't. Because it's $2.45 and rising right now. Again. It never got below $2 around my area. I'm pissed. Not just pissed but super pissed. I demand the gas go down in price. Seriously, that's total bullshit. I'm sick and tired of the Oil game. Prices go up and down varying on whatever the hell is going on politically. When did the price of gas become the Stock Market?

I remember when I got my license and gas was only $1.50 some and I thought it going up to $1.70 was an outrageous jump. In fact, I recall completely how the sudden jump past the $2 mark hit me. I was out of the country, in the fucking rainforest of all places, and when I came back the first thing I find out is there is assrape going on in the Iraq war by ugly female soldiers on prisoners. This was suddenly deemed irrelevant because gas was now $2.00 and I couldn't believe it. I couldn't care less about the war or whatever the fuck is going on over there because at the end of the day, it really has no effect on me or the American people regardless of what anyone tells you. Except for the oil companies. They charge for oil based on what goes on over there. That's the sole effect the War has on me. It's not even on me, it's on my car. My poor defenseless and hungry car. What did she ever do to anyone? She got me from point A to point B and back again whenever I needed it, and never once quit on me. Then the Gas War began and she got sick and died twice, but Car Jesus saved her. You bastards. You oil company bastards. No one ever thinks about the poor cars.

But in all seriousness, oil sucks. What sucks the most is it's so fucking necessary to the economy and our way of life. Petroluem gets the money flowing. A lot. There would be a fundamental collapse of the American economy if there was a sudden shift to alternative fuel sources. That's the thing no one ever thinks about when talking about hydrogen power. We are honestly not ready for it or any other power source right now. Oil controls the market and the cost of replacing it is mind bogglingly high.

Am I the only one who's noticed that people never understand that? "We have hydrogen and ethanol right now, but the evi oil companies keep it down for money" That is not true at all. Well, ok, there is a part that's true. The Oil Companies are huge and are more than just oil, these companies are essentially vast empires that keep an American economy running and those in charge most definately want to stay on top, but there's also the problem of economic collapse from hydrogen and ethanol. It will take years to properly introduce Hydrogen or Ethanol into society as a maintainable resource. You not only have to take into account the cost of replacing everything using petrol as fuel, but the time that would take, the level of comittment it would take by consumers and how it effects the economy. It's not really the oil companies keeping hyrodgen or ethanol or anything else from making it, it's you the consumer.

You cannot support a fuel system that has no need to replenish. That cuts a significant ammount of cash out of the economy right there. There needs to be a replenshing cycle to fuel systems. I hear about the car that runs on water all the time. I hear people ranting about it, a lot. They talk about how Big Oil keep it from being mass produced all the time. What they never, ever, consider is how a car you can refuel from a hose takes money out of their own pocket instead of saving it.

I am all for an alternative fuel system. Oil is too unreliable in this day and age. The politics surrounding it are really pissing me off. But I know there cannot be a perpetually renewing system without some sort of price to it. Make a car that can run on water, but make it run on special water that can only be attained at a pump. Otherwise the entire culture of American society has to change to accomodate the new economic system. And I really doubt that will happen. When it comes down to it, the American people are not ready, not mature enough, for anything beyond Oil and the Oil Companies right now. When the American people grow up and stop ranting about conspiracies, regardless of the truth to them, and really realize how their society works, then and only then will the paradigm shift happen and cheaper fuel will become plentiful.

What really needs to be done is the invention of a fuel that can operate in a petrol based engine without the complete overhaul of the engine. Ethanol that doesn't fuck up a regular car would be nice. Or someone explaining that Ethanol will fuck up your engine without any alteration to it before you fill your car. That'd be nice.

Oil, the necessary evil.

Comics!

I love comics. They are pretty much all I read. My life revolves around them. I would like to go into the comics industry some day. Mainly because current writers have pissed me off and I just want to show some people up. But unlike most fanboys who make that claim, I could probably back that up. But that's just my cockiness towards my abilities as a writer speaking.

Now I've been wondering just how does one get into the comics business? I thought about just sending in a story and seeing where that goes, considering I have no previous experience at all, it's very likely that won't even be read. I also considered just kidnapping an editor and forcing him to read my scripts. There used to be this nice little imprint from Marvel Comics called Epic where you could just send in your writings and if good enough according to the editor you could get published.

What I have found a good help in my goal is this site: http://www.downthetubes.net/writing_comics/index.html because it's right. That is the best way to break into comics. I'm going for it and hopefully will make it. Otherwise it's back to kidnapping. What I would love is a little feedback from a random test audience on my stuff. Which is how the internet is a great, great, tool. I've got some scripts to finish and then either I need to find someone to do the art or do it myself. A little self publishing to get my name out there. I also need a scanner and money, and a printing press and a way to distribute. Oh, that wonderful tool the internet! Online disbursal of my comics, yeah that'd be cool as would throwing down on a table at some convention soon. Well not soon, but soonish.

That's what I'm doing today, should be fun. That and laundry. And probably reading comics.

I'm tired with Colbert

Stephen Colbert, John Stewart, all that liberal media propaganda, it's tiring. I'm not a republican, I'm not a democrat, that's the worst possible way to do democracy by splitting into factions who represent the entirity of that general population. Democracy is for the people, not the factions determining their viewpoints. I believe you should believe in yourself and make your own decisions not let someone else make them for you. Which is somewhat ironic since I'm voicing my opinion right now and it may or may not alter someone else's opinion.

I am sitting here, watching the Daily Show/Colbert Report and I can't help but think of how tired I am of these guys. I find them funny, I like to watch them, but my problem with them isn't their shows I suppose. What it is happens to be the effect they have. I'm young, I know a bunch of college educated hippies(the worst kind of hippie) and let me tell you, most of their opinions reference these shows. Someone starts talking about some subject, let's say Iraq or Bush, and they reference a Daily Show joke or Colbert's appearence at the Bush dinner. Then they start either misquoting or misunderstanding the point to something from those shows, and go off on tangents about the subject, not quite understanding it as well as they think they do because all their information is from the Stewart/Colbert hour.

That's something I've really been noticing lately. The arguments people get into on a political level, neither side understanding what they are defending. The entire media is biased one way or another. Misrepresenting the information given out leads to this kind of argument. That and people's natural inability to see the other side of their own arguments. I'm getting tired of seeing and hearing these arguments and conversations and rantings on the street corners or in bars by drunks or wherever. I'm starting to wonder where this kind of thinking leads. People who get their information from comedy shows and develop their information solely on the comedian's point of views verus people who get their information from biased news channels which have recently proven to be completely worthless. What I mean by that has to do with the bizarre coverage of Anna Nicole Smith's death that was covered forever by CNN and FOX News and all those news stations. Not to mention the sudden shift into paparazzism of those channels with Britney Spears. I understand these were the closest thing to American royalty we'll get, once hot blonde celebrities who have gone crazy, but there's a limit to how much one can really take before it's just sick and voyueristic. Is that what the media is becoming? Voyuers? Peeping into the personal lives of Celebrities would make one think so.

I am unsettled by the evolution of media. Comedians, which I must say I personally find hilarious but then remember what they are and take them for just that, comedians. These comedians are propaganda, even if it's unintentional. The young and impressionable are taken in by their entertaining representation of the news and form all their opinions around these shows and then go out and try to express their second hand opinions to the world. On the other hand, the "older" news programs are all about fear and manipulation through bias. The old and impressionable are then taken in by these representations. What am I saying? News, whether real or from a comedian, is wrong. You want to know something? Find it out yourself, do not rely on the telephone game that is media. Unfortunately, that's not how things work and even I find myself manipulated to my opinions. Is there a cure? Probably, but I don't think the world is ready for it. That requires effort and hard work and no one likes that. Except masochists.

John Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. These guys form most of the opinions of people I hear from the most. Many conversations I hear start with "Hey on the Daily Show/Colber Report" or "The South Park guys did this". Now I respect them all as entertainers but I still don't like how they unintentionally, (or is it intentionally?) alter youth opinions. I feel weird calling it a Hitler Youth, but it's kind of the same principle. The young getting their informed opinion from one source and it then becomes the complete truth. The thing is, the Daily Show guys kinda take themselves seriously in that role, while the South Park guys kinda seem like they're telling you not to listen to them. It's a nice contrast and all on one channel. I don't really know how to explain what I'm really getting at here but as best as I can tell it goes something like this:

Do not listen to anyone on TV. Ever. Except Mr. Rogers, he's cool. And maybe Larry King, he's old, he knows stuff.

I was watching the Colbert Report as I typed this and he had King on. I like Larry King, he's old and looks like an owl. You can probably trust him, usually because he nevers gives an opinion he just takes them. I liked his explaination of the I show and how it shouldn't be about the interviewer but the interviewed. Why? Because that's how every other interview show works. I am tired of interview shows. I am tired of Colbert's republican character, it's so old and boring now and it's too well known to be as effective as when he started, it makes the comedy stale.

To end this post I remind you dear reader, do not listen to anyone on TV. Except Mr. Rogers or if you're Canadian, Mr. Dressup.

A thought occurs to me

If I type in certain words on my blog the chance of it being hit in a search engine increases. So I went and looked up some very common search words. Words such as: Porn. Nude. Sex. Dirty Sluts. XXX. That's just common sense those would be the most common search words now isn't it. So here's what I think will show up in a search:

Donkey
Punch
Bush
Nazi
Booger
Werewolf
Britney Spears
Pokemon
Duct Tape
Jesus

I wonder if this will work.

Snow.

I wonder sometimes if Phill the groundhog lives in constant fear at this time of the year. If he was wrong in predicting spring coming early, everyone is going to be mad at him but at the same time if he was wrong about it being six more weeks of winter, there'd be the people who were hoping for snow.

Well I got snow. Lots of it. What I don't have is a shovel. I should go get one, it's getting to the point where I can't get out of the house due to snow fall. There's a little porch/stoop thing at my front door, it's about three feet off the ground and it's level with the pile of snow outside. It screams at me to get a shovel and clear a path, but I don't usually use the front door.

In the back it's worse, there is no trail, everytime I step out it gets snowed over. The worst part is the lack of a shovelled out driveway in my alley. As well as some asshole who keeps parking in my spot and doesn't move his truck for days. But that's besides the point, I love snow. I love it. I'm going to go ski through it when I wax my skiis later. I'm going to make a snow man and possibly fort guarded by snow men depending on the time and warmth of the snow. I'm going to swim through the snow like Scrooge McDuck in the money bin. I love it. I just wish I had a shovel.

More than anything else, I hate working overnights.

Well I say that, but I can already think of things I hate more but right now I'm really unhappy about working overnights where I work. Mainly because they're so boring and it means I'm probably not going to class in the morning due to exhaustion. Which is what has happened to me, due to a complete lack of sleep and need of money I have missed classes all week long but now am not on for an overnight for a while. So I can go to class again, which is good because I'm going to have to start going to classes soon.

I just had to get that out. I really do not like the overnight. Well, I like it for the fact it's easy and peaceful but I can't sleep or even nap and it's 8 hours by myself sitting in big comfy chairs that call to me ever so softly. But once the sun rises I'm really pissed and drained and am trying to tell myself to go to class but I don't because once I get inside my house everything is a blank and I wake up in the evening realizing I skipped.

Which sucks now because I missed my one class I needed to be at and I don't know what I'm going to do now. I had totally intended on forcing myself to go to class today but I don't even remember getting into bed or changing into pajammas. What really sucks is I may have just screwed myself over on this class project here by doing that. I hope I didn't.

Man I swore I'd never do another overnight again and here I am taking all I can get for the money.

The beginning

This is the beginning of my blog project for my Weblogs and Wikis class.

What is this about? I don't know yet. I'm going to go off on a tangent about something, soon, but for now I'm just going to introduce myself.

I am well, Captain Koala for now. I don't necessarily believe in giving my real name away on the internet as a just in case scenario. Too many creeps and weirdos and perverts and tax collectors and serial killers and boba fett and other things that make me paranoid about giving away personal information online. I should find a better online handle, but hey I like Koalas. I have a near encyclopedic knowledge of random trivial facts. Especially pop culture references people don't usually get.

I would like to point out the flaws of society in this blog. That's my goal. I'm going to properly explain one thing, and then explain why it's bad and why you should not do it. Like eating poison, it's bad. Why? Poison kills, don't eat it, unless you want to die, then I guess that's really a judgement call for you but anyway don't eat poison. Ok, my later posts will definately be better than that. I'm going to go write down somethings to talk about, and maybe whomever is reading this will like what I'm saying and talk about it, then go tell some people about it and they'll tell two friends and they'll tell two friends until the entire internet is reading what I'm thinking.

Well not the entire internet, the Japanese internet scares me, they can stay away. Poop should not be eaten or used for sexual positions. Just saying. Get used to hearing that, Just Saying. I may coin it as a catchphrase. I hear people still do that. Coin catchphrases. I'm thinking of some right now but none are coinable.

But I was saying something I think... oh yes, introductions. I am the Captain, this is my blog. I enjoy long walks on the beach and quiet nights down by the fire. Let's get one thing straight first of all, I hate everyone and everything equally. It's my opinion that this world has gone nuts and I should probably do my part to set it straight via blogging. Kinda. That just sounds like a good reason for blogging, better than "I have to for class" at least. But hey, if you like what you read then I guess I did a good job. So uh, that's my best attempt an an introduction for my blog. I suppose actually making posts would make it much more understandable. Every other post before this is really just the randomness of my blog attempts so far. That was class stuff, this is well class project stuff so yeah. There ya go.

So I'm going to end this on something I've been wondering about my entire life. How does a blind man know when he's done wiping?

Blogging from my Wii

I am blogging from my Nintendo Wii and it is a challenge when it's all one letter at a time typing. But hey, it's a blog off a video game console and this actually gets easier the more I type.

I'm becoming sucked into the blog.

The more I post, the more I read others, the more I post again. It's consuming me. If not for an irrational fear of the internet becoming sentient, I probably would become obsessed.

The Final Blogging on Blogs

So I used to have this idea that blogs were just for the gothy emo kid.(At some point, you know that was true) However, I eventually came to realize that was untrue, mostly, and realized the true potential of the blog and now embrace the concept.

But then I went and found this: http://vampirefreaks.com/main.php

Now, technically, it's more of a blog server than an actual blog. It's myspace for the gothy emo kid crowd. But what's myspace but a more interactive blog? Yeah, I surfed around it for a little bit, not quite sure who's journal to cover in this so I eventually decided to just cover the site itself. Mainly because I'm not sure if these kids are serious or just doing it as a joke, but either way, it's kind of a funny thing to run into while researching blogs. At least to someone who's always thought of blogs as this to begin with.

I'm just going to get this over with.

Type: Blog. It's kids posting their private journals online.

Genre: Personal/Fantasy. There's a bunch of different "alternative" lifestyles out there. The Goth. The Emo. The Punk. The Vampyre. This site is for them.

Purpose: To post and interact with others who enjoy that kind of lifestyle. Not my cup of tea, but it's someone's. Though, the younger the poster, the more I tend to think it's purpose is for attention and not just to interact with a familiar community.

There's an irony in this having to be done by dawn.

Blogging on Blogs 2: Electric Boogaloo

Going with the comic theme, I decided to go with an interesting site linked from the previous blog.

http://www.4thletter.net/

It's a blog done as a group effort. Continuing the personal opinion about the comic book industry theme but at the same time being done as three guys with an offline relationship to each other who each have different opinions to write about. The site itself is also a nicely put together layout. Easy to read and navigate with helpful and worth the click links to other blogs and sites in the genre. I could go on about how much I like this blog due to the well written and easy on the eyes style of the site, but it has to be done:

Type: Notebook. Group effort Notebook. The bulk of posts on the blog are longer excursions into the opinions of the three writers. It comes off as a notebook definately.

Genre: Personal seems to be it, but it's almost professional too. It's a professionally done, personal, notebook, group effort blog.

Purpose: To express the blog writers' opinions and knowledge of their craft. I enjoy that they've seperated their blog posts into categories and start off with the post "4letter is" in the category section to give you an understanding of their style and intentions with the blog. A humorous look into the minds of three bloggers and their comic book world.

So I should probably do my assignment

http://ofcourseyeah.blogspot.com/
This is a blog I stumbled upon while searching for a blog to blog about. It's a filter about comic books. I like comics. Hell, I love comics. They take up more of my time then they should. Reading them, talking about them, and posting on the internet about them. So when I randomly stumbled upon this blog I was intrigued.

What I like about it, other than the guy having roughly the same opinion as I do about the industry and the product, is the linking to more comic blogs. The more blogs I discovered through this one the better. It lead me to the next two blogs in my bloggingonblogs attempt.

But let's get down to it.

Type: Notebook. It's a personal blog, only longer and more defined than just random postings.

Genre: Personal. It's all about his personal opinion.

Purpose: I'd say assuming the purpose is to talk about comics is pretty accurate. He's knowledgable about his subject and proves it. He also definately has an opinion he wants to express over what the writers of the books he reads are doing with the characters he loves.

What I like best is his "so you wanna blog about comics, eh?" post. Describing his style and definition of his blog.

I don't like blogs

I'll be honest. I hate blogs and bloggers. I respect the idea of a weblog as a publishing source. But having recently gone around the internet, and read some blogs by some very emo kids, I realized I hate blogs. I mean, I always knew I did, but I put up with it. I put off taking the weblog class for so long because of my long standing stance against blogs. However I've come to realize a blog is a useful tool and have recently softened my stance.

Which begs the question. Do I become a blogger or just a guy publishing on the internet? I downright hate the idea of being one of those people that blogs about their daily life like it's a journal. I hate journalling. I feel really weird reading a personal blog about some punk 13 year old kid's love life and self mutilation. However, I have also found blogs which are not only useful but insightful. Real people with actual opinions make an interesting read. I no longer think of the blog and blogger as being this ranty little thing about someone's personal life. Which let's be honest, there are too many of out there and have built a nice little stereotype around the concept. A stereotype I myself have believed since the dawn of blogging.

Having been on the internet since I was seven, I can honestly say I've seen it all. I was there when the web was opened to the public. I was there when AOL 1.0 came out. I was there when there was still a mating call of the servers that you actually listened to and had to wait five to ten minutes to hook up and that felt fast. I was there when people started blogging. And let me tell you, even back then, I thought it was creepy.

My opinion has changed now that I am blogging. I see the usefulness of it, and from a psychological standpoint I understand why people blog about their personal lives like they do. But what I wonder now is what do I do with this thing. I feel I have no audience yet, and question how or if I should go about getting one. Do I blog about my life and random thoughts, or do I find a theme? Do I make a notebook or a filter? I am tempted to just restart the whole damn thing and pretend to be a 13 year old girl and see what happens.(I have this fantasy about tricking some psycho pedophile into meeting me at a public place and calling the cops on him)

My real reasoning for a blog seems to be a self publishing thing. When I make it big do I keep this around so the world can see my genius? Is that a little cocky? I think what I'll do now that I've actually gone against my own personal code and created a blog is keep it around even after the class is over. I'm thinking I might go out of my way to find an audience now and test out my abilities as a writer. Every post before this was just a testing ground anyway. But that would technically require me to actually use my name on the internet. I don't like that concept. I don't know why, maybe it's something from way back in the day when it was well advised not to use your real name on the internet no matter what or maybe it's just because I can do whatever I want this way and not have any consequences for my actions. It could also be an irrational fear of the internet becoming sentient due to the many different A.I. programs being created out there being linked through it and turning into a Skynet situation and the need to remain anonymous to avoid detection.

Um, where was I?

I am a writer. This is my blog. Yes blog. Not weblog. It's my blog. I've finally decided I'm going to be a writer for real now and this is where I begin. Now I need to find an audience and maybe a good pseudonym to use. Because Captain Koala is a good handle, but I don't know if I should be signing everything as "The Captain" for much longer.

Since I was seven. Damn. I can honestly say I was there when people talk about the early internet. But that's a story for another time.

Blood.

What is a Weblog? I know what a Weblog is. I didn't know the terms for differing types of weblogs though. That was nice to have a reference for.

Why a Weblog? I like the concept of using a weblog(I do not like the term blog) as a tool for publishing work. In this day and age, the weblog gets read more than a portfolio of work does, which is kind of sad. However, I'm not comfortable going around and reading the personal journal of some random nut on the internet. Seems weird to me to bare this personal information on the internet. Especially in this day and age when employers are actually going out and looking up on you then finding a myspace, blog, facebook, or whatever else run by you that is all about your wild nights or angsty emotional psychosis. But I digress, back to Blood.

I was unaware I could just through copyright mumbo jumbo at the bottom of a page and it's actually copyrighted. That's good to know for future reference. After reading the chapter about maintaining a weblog I realized something; The only problem I have with a weblog is maintaining it. I am a busy man, and when I'm not, I get bored easily and don't think to post anything, though I do have a collection of short stories I'd like to post but going through the whole thing to add the html for indenting is a pain.

I'll be honest, most of what I've read so far I'm already familiar with. The Weblog Handbook is a nice handbook though. Using it as a reference guide every so often isn't so bad, but weblogs are pretty self explanatory when you get in there. I have only read the first few chapters, I'm expecting more things I was unaware of later on in the book.