Thursday, July 15, 2004

   The Perils of Being Me
…Never cease. Ever. Once again, I've been absent for a great amount of time. The reason this time, however, was a completely technical one. Simply put, my computer became epileptic. Internet Explorer was in conflict with another program, the oh-so-much-better browser known as FireFox. Basically, it was like two bulls fighting in a china shop. That was, however, only the catalyst of the problem. Other things that I am unable to explain, due to an overall lack of technological ability, contributed to my computer's overall inability to do anything at all.

But wait, there's another twist in my story. In an amazing turn of events that prove the existence of God, my brother actually solved the problem! It's amazing. Both my friend Caru and my uncle were unable to do so, but my brother just... fixed it.

In other news, I've managed to see two things, both of which I recommend to all. Firstly, I saw the action-packed, cinematic masterpiece that is Spider-Man², and I also saw Weird Al Yankovic live in his Poodle Hat Tour. :D Hilarity!

I'm afraid I've got a great deal of stuff to catch up on, so I'll have to continue the Spidey/Yankovic explanations later.

I'm BACK, baby!!!

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Friday, July 2, 2004

Spidey-Sense Tingling!
Tomorrow is going to be a great day. Why? Because I'm going to go see Spider-Man². I've really been anticipating this movie since I first learned the release date, and from the trailers and HBO Special, this is shaping up to be a superb movie. Tobey MacGuire and Kirsten Dunst (I <3 dark rainy alleyways!) make a second appearance, as do the actors who portray Harry Osborne and Aunt May (who, btw, plays a larger role this time around). A new addition? Doc Ock, played by some guy whose name I can't remember, and have no ambition to look up right now. What's awesome about this is that for once, you've got a "good" bad guy, according to the HBO Special, so this should be interesting...

The Spider-Man² game also looks great, from what I've seen/heard so far. Anyone who has played Grand Theft Auto (III or Vice City) already knows what this game is like, somewhat. Basically, the game's creators have given you a slice of Manhattan as your playground, and you can pretty much do anything. Wanna swing aimlessly for hours on end? Feel free to do so. Wanna visit J. Jonah Jameson in the Daily Bugle? Well, then go jump off a building: eventually, you'll hit street level (without load times!), allowing you to just waltz inside the building. The gameplay is, according to Penny Arcade, similar to that in the latest Tony Hawk games, in that you accept missions from people on the streets. Thus, you've got absolute freedom to swing around, beat up thugs, and swing around some more. I'm jumping for joy here- in spirit only. Remember, kids: White guys can't jump. Especially me.

The other great part about Saturday is that I'm attending the movie con mi amigo Caru. After the film, it's a conference at my house (held in my pool), and then some pizza. Sounds like a great day, so long as no rants or moronic sibling comments ensue. *crosses fingers/toes*
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Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Bill O'Reilly Needs To Be Taken Off The Air
Why? BECAUSE HE IS AN IDIOT!!! It's one of his "France, Germany, and Russia are evil and I'm going to pull random lies out of my ass to try and convince you I'm right" spiels, which is full of fallacies and jingoistic bias.

For the love of a random deity, somebody please pull Bill O'Reilly off the air.
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Phelpsians disgust me, more than usual...
Why? Because of the updates at GodHatesAmerica.com. (WARNING: If you click the link, there's a slew of homophobic "bad words") Here's a few quotes from these... just read.

"Ronald Reagan is in HELL! WBC will picket his funeral to remind America that there is a hell, and that you can't mock God all your life and avoid landing in it."

Apparently, there's also some "reasons" for the above. Oh wait, there's more.

"Pat Tillman and Nick Berg are in Hell! They'll be there for all eternity, and there's no amount of wailing that will change that simple fact.

Pat Tillman could have used his influence for good, and instead, used it to promote the filthy American army; the same army that rapes little Iraqi boys. He got what he deserved!

Nick Berg died for America's sins, and you can rest assured that more will do the same. A nation that has totally given itself over to worshipping the sodomite can only expect destruction and wrath at the Hand of God."

That's right. According to these sick sadistic... well, the hostages that were killed in Iraq are apparently going to hell. All I can say is that these people disgust me, and that they really should be shut down.

Oh, and apparently, God also hates Canada. These guys are ridiculous! I can't wait to see what they have to say about this.
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Sunday, June 27, 2004

Ah, summer...
Well, that's what I would say if I lived anywhere other than Central New York. For the past few days, the weather has been nothing but rain and clouds, with the occasional crap front coming in from the west. Which means I haven't swam in a while.

That, combined with the overall onset of summer, has caused my lack of MyO posts as of late. Not that I don't have anything to post about, I just need the time. For example, today was a 9-hour verbal bombing-run, performed by my grandmother. I kid you not, I actually timed this one. She ranted for nine hours straight, ranging upon so many topics I'm not even going to begin a description. All I can say is that by hour 6 I had a headache that is only now beginning to subside, and as I type this, her rant is picking up again, due to Ronald Reagan's presence on-screen. The basic subject? How the protests of the Vietnam War caused us to lose a "righteous" war, not our overall lack of preparation for this. That, and how the "liberal media" is doing the same thing again with Iraq, and that her distrust of teens is due to experiences during Vietnam, and our lack of patriotism and "common sense" now. >_< Ugh. This is starting to get repetitive...

In other news, I'm hoping to get to Barnes & Noble to pick up a copy of "An Open Heart". Which is likely to happen, due to my good grades.

UH-OH! She's addressing me directly in her rant now. I'd best get going and escape to my room. Itte ki masu, and if I don't post for a few weeks, it means my head exploded tonight.
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Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Screw "Patriotism": Bush is a Hypocrite
Like I said, hypocrite.

Basically, he's going on a campaign to promote marriage. Of course, not gay marriage.

'"I think one of the smartest things we can do is to encourage families" by spending money on grants to states, faith-based organizations and community-based groups that "teach people what it means to be in a successful marriage," Bush told supporters at an alcohol and drug addiction services center.'

Of course it's much smarter to discriminate and further inequality than to let a minority have equal rights.

'Bush's Healthy Marriage Initiative is part of welfare reform legislation stalled in the Senate.

"It's stuck" and "there's too much politics in Washington on this," said Bush. "Congress needs to get the welfare bill to my desk. It's a bill that will encourage work. It will encourage compassionate programs." '

How is it "Healthy?" Seriously. And while the bill may encourage work and whatnot, Bush's other bill will encourage intolerance and inequality.

"Gay-rights activists are bitter that Bush would request funds to aid heterosexual couples while advocating a ban on same-sex marriages."

They're not the only ones... Bush is a hypocrite, plain and simple. That, and he's a zealous warmongering idiot.
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Monday, June 21, 2004

SUCCESS! SpaceShipOne makes successful suborbital flight and landing!
That's right, folks. The first non-government-backed space craft has made it successfully into suborbital space, and back down to earth. According to Space.com
Of course, this could be the start of one of two things. Either everyone will be able to make trips to space, possibly to any future bases we might get on the moon (or orbital colonies, if we take a turn for the Gundam vision of the future), or we will soon see spam in the night sky.

"Mommy, is that the Big Dipper?"
"No, son. That's an ad telling you how Daddy could make his dipper bigger." Sheesh!
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Yet another addition to the Chronicles of Ridic(ulous)
That's right folks! My brother (who shall remain nameless) has done it yet again! He's created perfect material for more...

Chronicles of Ridic(ulous)
Okay, here's the story. We're sitting in our 2001 Chrysler Town and Country, going to the store. Somehow, my brother starts another rant of his, which quickly turns into a debate between the two of us. To make a long, hard-to-remember story short, my brother believes and advocates that "There is no such thing as free will." That's right, folks. According to my brother, "choice is an illusion God put us in so he can control our every move and thought." I am now, officially, scared of my own little brother. Why? Because the belief that nobody has free will, combined with the whole "everybody in their heart knows Christianity is the only true religion", multiplied by his fervent pro-American/anti-anything else jingoism equates to the immense likelihood that my brother might grow up to be a Phelps-level fascist. He doesn't organize marches or anything yet, though, thankfully. Here's hoping he doesn't go insane(r).

Oh, and to alleviate the immense horror you're currently feeling because of the latest Chronicle, here's a link to quite possibly the greatest webcomic of all time. Truly hilarious.
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Saturday, June 19, 2004

Another hostage beheaded
According to CNN, Paul Johnson was beheaded by his captors in Saudi Arabia, in the vein of what happened to Nicholas Berg in Iraq. Unfortunately, this has also sparked a great deal of "Let's go kill their civilians, see how they like it" attitudes to come to fruition. For example, this occured on PoliticsForum.org.

Basically, here's my reply to what the people on the aforementioned forum said, and it can probably apply to anyone who holds the "Abu Ghraib was justified" opinion.

Wow. There sure is a lot of vengeance being spewed around me right now. And I don't just mean on this forum. After having told my grandmother about the man's beheading, she's been on a "Pull out our troops and carpet-bomb the entire Middle East" rant.

But, seriously, I'm surprised at the amount of people calling for retribution. Sure, the people who did this deserve exactly what they give. But how do their actions justify our abusing Iraqi prisoners? Or the killing of their civilians?

spin doctor wrote:
F*** yea. They kill our civilians so we can kill theirs because we are better than them.


How are we better than them? If by 'them' you mean the terrorists, then by all means, I agree that we are better than them- until we start going around abusing prisoners, defying international law, and being complete and utter hypocrites. Just because terrorists kill US civilians does not mean that we should go around doing the same. How is it fine for us to do something that we condemn another for doing earlier!?

Take some advice from Gandhi: "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."

Absolute Zero wrote:
This is precisely why I'm not losing sleep at night when photos of naked Iraqis surface! At least they still have their heads when it's all said and done.


So they have their heads. Big freakin' deal. Does death make a torture experience any less traumatic, humiliating, and dehumanizing? I'm sickened by the prison abuse, including the beating to death of a prisoner by a civilian contractor (I just heard about this last night on FOX).

In my opinion, the terrorists deserve absolute hell. But we shouldn't degrade ourselves to give it to them. The end does not justify the means.

And that's my two cents.
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Thursday, June 17, 2004

Isaac Asimov is the man!
I just purchased the sci-fi thriller by Isaac Asimov. For those who don't know, Asimov is considered by many to be a master of science fiction, and wrote his books many, many years ago. I, Robot, for example, was written in 1950, which is what is so amazing about his writing.

Many of the scientific advances that have occurred (or are occurring now) were predicted in his novel I, Robot. However, that's not the book's strong point. What amazes me about this novel is how deeply it makes you think. Obviously, the book is about robots. But not just any robots. These robots think. Feel. And of course, this raises the question of what really is alive? Or, as the description on the back of the book says, "What is human?". Good question.

If you're looking for a tight sci-fi novel that'll really get you thinking, I suggest Asimov's I, Robot, which is the reason why I haven't been posting for a while. I've been reading and thinking. And dealing with State Regents exams, argh! That, and surfing around on Comments (1) | Permalink