Shaken, Stirred, Whatever

Finally caught Casino Royale, the Craig Bond film, in it's entirety on cable tonight.


BORING.

Didn't care about the plot or the characters.
The suicide scene was hilariously stupid. The scream and drowning in 5 seconds... please. The time between when the girl "drowns" and the time Bond pulls her to the surface is short enough that she could have been resuscitated. Plus, I guess Bond was never properly taught CPR procedure. He mauled her chest instead of using proper compression techniques. Also, he did nothing to try to get her to cough up any swallowed water.
Should have stuck with the sleeping pills suicide.

What's with the sado-masochistic torture porn? From what I can tell, that was in the original novel. Fleming was one nutty man.

DCU Online - Insert Foot into Mouth

Oh, so this is what SOE thinks girls find appealing in games?
"Healing and Support?" Get real. Girls like to frag too, dammit.

Then, they backpedal. Into saying girl gamers don't play Tauren in WoW because they'll be called cows. Uh, say what? I've never heard of female gamers complaining about Tauren being cows before. Who does this guy talk to? The image-obsessed dead-head girls the media like to portray girls as being? Tauren are a bovine race that's pretty cuddly in terms of looks, by the by. As an aside, most Night Elves I met were played by guys, not by women wanting to look "pretty."

Sexist, then again, sexist. They just can't get their stories straight, even when trying to placate the anger, they still step on toes.

DCU won't be a replacement for WoW anytime soon. Looking at the options, Champions Online is looking like a better superhero contender than DCU online. Maybe it's because it's NOT directly attached to the comics industry, one which has been severely lacking in appeal lately. The comics industry has always been a bit... sexist towards women (to put it mildly) and it's looking like DCU is looking to continue that in their attitude towards their gamer base.

(caveat: I stopped playing WoW a long time ago and have since switched to my favorite MMO, which I really don't play often. Mostly out of protest over not getting Player Apartments even though it would be a simple implementation using an existing system.... but also because the time just isn't there.)

Martin said it best...

Oh, geeze.

When I was younger, Archie Comics were my treat from the grocery store. Recently, I've been picking them up for nostalgia's sake and to check out their "new look" stories. So far, they haven't been that bad.

The latest new look story, however, is ridiculous. "My Father's Betrayal" is about a fight between Veronica and her father over the use of a small forest. He wants to build an industrial park which will provide jobs and a boost to the economy while keeping taxes down. Meanwhile, she wants to prevent her father from doing so all to save the trees.

I know I'm supposed to side with Veronica and all the greenies, but I'm on the side of the father. So far, the story is rather biased towards the greenies. We'll see how it continues in other issues. Kids read these stories and this is just more indoctrination if the story continues to be slanted (as it already is, with the kids of the story being the greenies and the parent being the evil big bad capitalist).

Revisiting Comics

Found a webcomic I used to read. After catching up on pages, I realized why I stopped reading it.

The author is highly discriminatory, despite elated claims of having such open-minded readers! Oh joy! And yet, (one example) this author canceled ads for dating websites that did not advertise to gays. Because, after all, if it's not about the gays, then it's not open-minded! Also, I am extrapolating that the author doesn't want "straight" people to find mates - only gays.

Oh, gee. Guess the "straights" don't fall into account, right? They're not people? Only "gays" are wonderful, fluffy, beautiful people?

Way to be sooo "open-minded." (By the way, if open-minded means no one commented on a male having girlie clothes, that's a stretch. It's more likely because the male looked like a flat-chested girl.)

Also, stop ripping off L Frank Baum. He did it better.

One more thing: I am really getting tired of reading comics that like to bash on conservatives out of the blue. Ok, I get it. You're a liberal. You hate conservatives. Conservatives are eeeeevil.

Can't see what conservatives have ever done to liberals except provide an alternate opinion. (ooh... how about civil unions instead of redefining the basis of society? Scaary... better bash that conservative over the head so they don't think different anymore!)

Out of Control

What is wrong with chambermaids and mixed race relations?

The controversy has intensified after it was revealed that the film would be set in New Orleans and that Tiana would find love with a white prince — well, almost. His skin has been described as olive-toned and he will be voiced by [redacted for purposes of negating ego-google], a Brazilian actor

“What? No black prince? What’s up with this?” blogged [redacted for purposes of negating ego-google], an anti-racism Web site, in a posting typical of the general disbelief among the film’s most vocal black critics. “Perhaps Disney doesn’t want the future mothers of dwindling white America being imprinted so early in their lives with the notion of a black suitor.”

Another blogger, [redacted for purposes of negating ego-google], attracted nearly 3,000 comments on the [redacted for purposes of negating ego-google] Web site when she complained that “even though there is a real-life black man in the highest office in the land with a black wife, Disney obviously doesn’t think a black man is worthy of the title of prince."

Soooo... furthering the segregation of relationships is actually PC now, right? Why do these people have their panties in a bunch over a black princess falling for a brown prince?

Imagine the furor if the "prince" was white! My g-d! The horror of a black dating or even MARRYING a non-black person. It's soooo disgusting! Right? RIGHT?!

The ..... bullshit of this is incredibly hypocritical. Why is it so important a black character fall for a black character? Keeping people in their racial places?

Maybe Disney should just re-release all of their past movies with the skin tones adjusted to represent "blacks." Maybe that would make them happy. After all, it's what they do with Barbie and the like - just adjust the skin.

Tv trivia - Bones

Caveat: Although I'm not a really religious person, I do believe in G-d.

I watch Bones. It's a good show. Mostly. It's saved by the Booth (seems like a conservative Catholic) and Sweets (psychologist ignored by all) characters. The titular character, Bones, is incredibly annoying. I'm pretty sure it has to do with her elitist attitude towards anyone who has faith.

In any case, I turned on the DVR and started watching one of the latest episodes. Body is discovered after making an apparent Virgin Mary in a bale of trash. Booth mentions the Shroud of Turin, which the two "scientists" immediately say was debunked 20 years ago through carbon dating.

nitpick - wasn't that carbon dating suspect because they took a sample from a piece of the cloth that had been re-weaved in more recent times? The re-weaving was documented, right?

Maybe the writers of Bones should do more research before they make unsound statements as to the debunking of religious myths.

Ba bum buuuum...

Iowahawk's latest script really should be made into a movie short.

It drips with pure, acidic satire. Too bad most anyone with the ability to film this would most likely agree with the Napos of the world.

View the script here

Tea Party

Went to my city's tea party tonight. It was really great to be amongst fellow conservatives and to hear someone else say what I've been saying since before November. Actually, I've been saying much of this stuff since I was 12.

I still don't understand why we were asked to send postcards to the Congress critters... we all know they can't read. Unless the postcards had pictures on them... I'll never know, though, since they ran out before we reached the postcard table.

Worst part is the news coverage. We had a crowd of 10,000 strong (so estimated the announcer - official estimate is 6k, I guess). Get home, turn on the news, and it's a drive-by reporting on two channels and no coverage on the other two. The actual coverage basically consisted of "some people showed up and had a tax party, back to you, Bob." Upon which, the anchor would make note that it's tax day and here is the location to drop off taxes.

One station interviewed one guy and then immediately interviewed the only O supporter there (who must have left before I showed up - he certainly was not there when I was). This is a courtesy they never give dissenters when liberal causes are being rallied.

Aside from the news coverage, the even was really great. The people were peaceful and we even got the chance to boo our current and former governors. Next time, I'm going with some signs.

No More Taxes!

Narratives

City of Heroes has a new issue out in open beta testing.

Making your own missions is pretty neat. I'm not very good at it... but maybe with practice I'll develop something interesting. I'll have to check out some well established player arcs and see what makes them tick.

Barnacles

Twice in one day, I have seen live barnacles on tv.

People eat them. Weird.

Nose back to the grind

I started classes this week. Several years of freedom and I chose to go back to school. Granted, it's not graduate school, but it does involve tests and licensing.

The first day was pretty awful thanks to the kid I now have named Mr. Snuffleuphagus because he spent the entire class snuffling and rubbing his hand all over his face. Ugh. To make matters worse, Snuffles proceeded to flaunt class policy by pulling out his blackberry and sending text messages to someone. Click-click-clickclickclick-click. Really annoying when you're sitting in the back of the room trying to hear the instructor.

By the end of class, I was rageful. Luckily, rage lasts for only a little bit and did not impede any driving abilities.

More lessons learned on first day of class:
1) People talk. Usually, they're helping each other out, so not a big deal. Because of this, one such as I must sit at the front if possible in order to hear and understand instructor. Caveat: since that was the first day, I had to attend orientation, which ran into the starting time of the first class. Thus, only seat available was in the back next to Snuffles.
2) Bring food (especially if you never carry cash for the vending machines). People eating snacks while you have none makes you hungrier. It doesn't matter that you ate before class. You will get hungry. It's a 3+ hours class.
3) Make use of the breaks at least once. A burst bladder does no one any good.

At least for the second class of the week, all of the problems above were avoided and hopefully, will be avoided in future classes.

Second class was less boring.

Very glad that this will only last until May-ish.

Mindless sheep bleating through the days and nights

I really have a problem with these people protesting over AIG. They've fallen into the trap laid by media and the POTUS. Instead of focusing on the real problems, they freak out over something that was UNDER CONTRACT. Now, the Congress wants to pass unconstitutional laws breaking legal contracts. I really don't care that AIG gave out bonuses. Stupid? In the first place, yes. But to pull back something contractual is ridiculous. As is the concept of using the IRS to get back at the executives.

What they do to the execs, they will do to us. Are people too mindless to notice this?

The contracts made by AIG should probably have been based on performance. However, they were not. Instead, they were based on length of time. AIG had to honor their contracts.

Not only this, but Congress had their chance to stipulate terms for the spending of the monies given to AIG, yet they specifically changed the rules. Oops, right Mr. Dodd? First Dodd's clueless, then he confesses.

The Anchoress says it better than I can.

One more thing:

The funniest thing about the POTUS going on Leno?
Quote from the POTUS:
"And the key thing is for everybody just to stay focused on doing the job instead of trying to figure out who you can pass blame on to."

Excuse me? Exactly what has he been doing since getting into office aside from doing exactly that?

I have a lot of other issues with what he's said, but reading that transcript is making me crazy. This guy goes on Leno to get adoration from his little fandroids and campaign some more. Except, he's just talking to those who agree with him. It's not like he's trying to convince anyone else... who else watches Leno?

State of the market

The phrase "seeing red" has a whole new meaning to me. I literally saw and felt red - my entire neck up to the tips of my ears were on fire from the anger I felt towards the jackasses in charge of Congress.

Since the jackasses came in control two years ago, my investment funds dropped. Slowly, but then by the end of last year, one fund dropped just short of half. Since the jack-in-chief took office? It dropped even further to a full half of what it was at the end of 2007. In two months. My other fund, the 401(k) from work, also took a heavy dive.

Thanks for the "help," assholes.

I just wonder how much others have lost too. Maybe we should band together and tally up our losses and send the result to the Dear Leader. Show him just how much damage opening his mouth causes. Every time he speaks, I can feel the loss of even more. The market tanks. And tanks. So far, I see nothing we can do, seeing as we have NO representation in Congress anymore. There are no checks and balances. They are running us into the ground and I can't help but think that it is intentional.

Webcomics

I like comics. In print, an occasional graphic novel will suffice. If I like the series, I'll pick up the continuations. I grew up in the boom of the internet, so it is natural that I also like webcomics. Except...

I'm getting really sick and tired of reading a good webcomic just to have the political mores of the artist/author shoved down my throat. Ok, yeah, I get it. All conservatives are bad, evil people. Liberals are wonderful, sweet adorable creatures. Talk about projection.

Here's a suggestion: get over yourself and tell the story without stomping all over part of your audience. Conservatives read comics too. They aren't horrible puppy-killers like you seem to think. Wow, maybe they're even regular people who believe differently than you do. How shocking! We're not the jackbooted thugs.

I really don't like being attacked every single time I read certain comics (like a certain new one about a devil child who's adorable). I say, "yeah, ok, maybe it'll get better." But it doesn't. I might hang on because the art is good and the story's interesting, but after a while, I'm going to give up. And that's sad. I really want to continue reading these stories, but my choices are being severely limited. It's just like TV all over again. Oh joy. It would be nice to post my opinion to the comic and show that more than one person has the balls to point this out, but of course they want my email address. I really don't want to create that kind of opening. So I'll get this off my chest here.

I'm having this same problem with artists as well. Makes me never want to post a piece of art again. Never try to make a piece of art again. Why bother? Art is for liberals, right? Maybe comics are too.

I'm not saying that I want to read conservative comics only. In fact, what I'm saying is that I want to read comics that don't bring politics into play. Subtly, fine. Shoving your viewpoints down my throat?

Hell, no.

PC woes

Ubuntu is an interesting operating system. Takes some getting used to, that's for sure. I wouldn't want to use it as my main OS, but it's ok for a netbook.

Current frustration is that the Dell Mini came with a setting that opens Ubuntu Help Center on every. single. login. Can I say this is completely annoying?!

I've tried looking for help on this issue, but no solutions yet.

Also, I can't browse newsbusters.org with firefox, as it makes the browser use over 60% of the processor power. Other sites are fine, but with NB.org, the computer becomes unusable.

Leverage pt 2

Someone's been listening to my thoughts. Leverage's season finale answered questions and made right their badly put evil-insurance company scheme.

So it really was the CEO who was an evil little prick. He came in and made the illegal mandate that all claims be denied at all times. ILLEGAL. Then, when Nate's son was seriously ill and Nate+wife had exhausted all monies and put their house in hock, the CEO personally refused to help out the family. Thus, Nate had gone through all options before coming to beg the company for help. In which case, the company would not be remiss in helping out.

Ok, so I can still watch Leverage without getting mad about the subplot. This is good.

What's wrong with a little BS?

I like Timothy Hutton. He's a good actor. His work on the Nero Wolfe mysteries series was pretty good and somehow managed to save the books from being tossed into the heap like the works of Erle Stanley Gardner.

So now he has Leverage. A show that's pretty ok. Sure, it's "take from the big bad rich and give to the saintly poor," a cliche if ever there was one, but it's not bad. A couple of the episodes have been awful, but on the whole, the first season's had a good run. The characters are interesting and quirky, and the plots have some good twists (though I'm never surprised, unfortunately).

The one thing that bothers me? The one thing that's ruining my enjoyment of the show?
Nate and his sorry background plot. Here's the gas: Nate (played by Hutton) was an insurance investigator working for some big fancy-schmancy insurance company. He was the good guy who ran around and caught thieves and swindlers. Pretty good at it too, he was. Then, his son fell ill with cancer. The evil insurance company denied an experimental treatment, causing the son to die a presumably horrible death.

Now, here's the rub. The show makes it seem like the insurance company can deny treatment. This is not true. Insurance companies can deny PAYMENT for a treatment that is not covered under their policy. Leverage pins Nate's son's death on the CEO of the big bad insurance company. In reality, Nate is responsible for the death, since he COULD have taken out a loan to pay for this treatment himself. There was no one preventing the ACTUAL TREATMENT from occuring, as long as it was paid for by someone. The insurance company denied PAYMENT, so Nate should have come up with the money on his own. Hospitals will not deny necessary treatment and will actually find ways for families to pay for such treatment.

Also, CEOs of insruance companies do not make decisions of approval or denial. Leverage makes it seem like the CEO went out of his way just to screw Nate over.

Yeah, right.

Depressing fact

The last year upped my use of profanity by a lot.

Repeat: A LOT.

I can't find words to describe certain things without appropriate non-profane descriptors.



Side note: esurance and "earth hour" can kiss my... wait, please don't.