Greg Horn (Father Filmed Horribly Beating His Daughters) Arrested! And My Thoughts On People Defending Him

Language Warning: This situation has infuriated me so expect a bunch of swearing.

Greg Horn aka "The Asshole Who Whipped His 12 and 14 Year Old Daughters On Camera" has been charged with child endangerment and corporal punishment. Link:

http://abc22now.com/shared/news/top-stories/stories/wkef_vid_12329.shtml

Here is a picture of the piece of shit child abuser:

For those not in the know what happened is two sisters (aged 12 and 14) were making a 'twerk' video ('twerking' definition) to post on Facebook when their father walked into the room and proceeded to whip them with an audio/video cable while they screamed, cried and pleaded for mercy. Here is the video of the event in question (warning: it's fucking disturbing, probably doubly so if, like me, you have a daughter):

Nice, eh? (Yes, I'm Canadian). So he beats them and gets arrested. He will likely end up in jail (especially give that this is not his first child abuse charge.....classy). Disgusting, but at least it's over now, right? We saw it, we felt the emotion, maybe discussed it with friends/family, and now we, along with the news cycle, can move on, right?

Well, no. Not me. This whole thing is driving me absolutely batshit insane and I can't stop thinking about it. I have been reading comments from people about this situation posted on various websites, and discussed it a bit myself on a forum/message board I frequent, and even though I knew it was going to happen, I still found myself feeling absolutely astonished at the fact that there are actually people, large numbers of them even, defending this scumbag's actions! This horrifies and infuriates me of course, as we are talking about the vicious beating of two little girls by the person who is supposed to be nurturing and protecting them, but what I feel even more strongly than the horror/anger is a profound sadness at just how little people seem to think/know about/understand their own  kids (or just kids in general).

Hilarious Double Dragon II XBLA Game Description (PIC)

Check out the hilarious description on Xbox Live for the newly released Double Dragon II: 

"That's Gold, Jerry! GOLD!"

How Do You Feel About Love/Relationships At This Point In Your Life?

This was a forum topic I recently encountered and the following was my response:

At this point, having been married, single and everything in between, as well as seeing the experiences of people around me and reading about these things online, I have to say that I am opposed to relationships in which the two parties are living together. At least for now. I own my own house and am perfectly content being alone in it. I have absolutely no desire to live with another woman at this point (I have lived with 2 in my life).

As far as relationships that don't involve cohabitation go, I am not necessarily opposed to them but at this point in my life I don't even want that. To be honest, I have much more fun hanging out with friends/my brother than I ever did with a girlfriend/my ex wife. Really, if you take sex out of it, you have a friend, but in most cases, one that isn't as fun to be around as are your male friends since females and males are often so different (what they consider fun, the conversations you can have, etc). Of course I am generalizing here but that's the nature of the conversation.

I really believe that despite what we tell ourselves, access to sex might really be the biggest/most potent motivator for the forming of relationships. Not many relationships survive without it and guys will go to extreme lengths to put up with **** that they would NEVER take from friends and the reason for that is sexual desire- which, if you really want to deconstruct this, is simply the biological urge to procreate. I believe that alone is the basis for all of it, and everything else is  a nice little narrative constructed around it.

Theism and Belief: Why is the Burden on Us?

An atheist and a theist engage in a friendly debate about the topic of god; specifically, whether or not one exists. The crux of the atheists' argument is essentially that the evidence for the existence of a god is lacking and has not led to the acceptance (on the part of said atheist) of the hypothesis that such a being exists. The theists' bottom line sentiment is that the evidence is sufficient for people all around the world (him or herself included) and it is up to the atheist to accept this evidence/open their heart/be open minded etc (there are many platitudes that are used in this situation).

This discussion has taken place innumerable amounts of times throughout history, and I don't see any reason to believe that it will not continue to do so for at least the foreseeable future. What I find particularly striking about this fact is that the existence of god is one of the few topics for which it is acceptable to claim that the burden of belief/being convinced lies not on the strength of the evidence put forth to bolster the claim but rather on the target(s) of said claims. A few other topics for which this is true are UFO's, bigfoot and the Illuminati/New World Order. Would anyone care to venture a guess as to what it is that these topics have in common? 

There is no proof that any of them exist (none of them do in my not so humble opinion). 

11 Years and 1000's of Hours of Gameplay Later I'm Still Learning How To Play Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) released in 2004, and since then I have played it (and its various incarnations) for thousands of hours. Literally. And even still I find myself, from time to time, learning new things. Either through experimentation or by watching videos/reading other people's forum posts. Just a couple of minutes ago I learned a new boss fight strategy while watching a Ninja Gaiden Black karma run video (Master Ninja difficulty) on YouTube. (For those who play the game(s), if you didn't know, you can OL UT Murai (if there's essence available) by first hitting him with >Y. Then simply OL UT him on the comedown.)

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying this depth is exclusive to Ninja Gaiden. Nor even video games.  Nor is this the only (or even close to the biggest) reason I love the series. It's just a small aspect of it that I find to be really cool and part of the reason I keep playing after all of these years. 

And for my long time readers, yes, I am still yammering on and on about Ninja Gaiden. It will never end so 

The Reality Of Working From Home

I have been working from home for the last two and a half years or so and despite what you may think, it's no paradise. When you think of working from home you might imagine waking up at noon, commuting to your office downstairs and proceeding to work in your pyjamas. Sitting at the laptop outside on a sunny day, sipping a coffee and listening to the radio. Lunches eaten in front of the t.v. Maybe a quick sandwich followed by 45 minutes of Call of Duty multiplayer. Taking half days off (or maybe even full days) whenever you damn well feel like it.

You might imagine yourself designing you own custom work schedule, something much different than the typical 9-5, Mon-Fri. Perhaps you think you would work twelve hour days for three days in a row and then have four glorious days off each and every week. Or perhaps you'd work five hours or so a day, seven days a week. Work everyday but much shorter days. But, hey! You're working from home, so you don't even need a stupid schedule! Just work whenever and however you want, totally on a whim with no pre-programmed schedule to follow.

You might imagine these things and you might think that it all sounds like absolute heaven. What you wouldn't  imagine, however, is the reality of it.

PS Vita Review

Alright, let's just get this out of the way: The Vita is gorgeous. I mean, just look at the damn thing!

Eye Candy, anyone? 

That's a sexy piece of hardware. And seeing it in motion, with that 5-inch OLED (multi-touch capacitive) (touch)screen displaying high fidelity graphics in ridiculously sharp, crisp detail is something else altogether. I absolutely adore my Nintendo 3DS but just look at it:

It's cute and all but it's not even close. If you were to poll the average consumer as to which portable they believe to be the most pleasing to the eye the Vita would come out on top almost every time. Sleek lines, no wasted space, amazing screen....it's a beauty. 

Now that we got that out of the way, let's dive into this review, because "looks ain't everything, kid." 

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus (Vita) Ninja Race Mode Tips

I have thus far only completed Ninja Race 01 (there are 5 courses) but I can offer some tips. These tips are for playing as Ryu Hayabusa; I have not yet tried playing with any of the secondary characters.

-Lunar Staff is obtained after beating Chapter 1 in the story mode- do this first.

-The Lunar features quick combo kills using weak, weak, strong. This is much faster than square, square, triangle, shuriken cancel, triangle with the dragon sword.

-The Lunar is also fantastic for crowd control, unlike the DS. Standing neutral strong, either stand alone or chained into a combo is good, as is the standard weak, weak, weak, strong strong. A good one for quick limb detachments is chains starting with towards and square. This is a poke with range and power and like the other combos mentioned above it seems to grant some crowd protection in the same way that VF combo strings do. The dragon sword does not carry this advantage.

-The Dragon Sword does have the flying swallow, but it whiffs too much sometimes and therefore wastes too much time. There's no whiffing with the Lunar staff.

-Minimize ET/UT usage. Keep it to the purple essence or health if you don't need it. You'll definitely want to avoid using the green essence for them as green grants time bonuses. The white essence grants speed and power bonuses so try not to utilize that for ET's/UT's either, unless you're at max speed/power or you're in trouble.

Random Thoughts: Divorce and Kids

I'm not divorced but we're separated (about 18 months now) and it was and has been totally amicable. I love that woman to death but we were not right for one another and now we're both better off. Our child (who is 4) is perfectly happy as there is no animosity and we even still do things together with her so that she still gets that 2 parent experience. Not a bad word is ever spoken about either parent to her and she knows that mommy and daddy love one another.

I believe it's when parents communication is fractured, bitterness sets in and the children become pawns in a childish chess match that "children of divorce" end up negatively impacted. Now, am I deluding myself to a degree? Quite possibly. It might still be better for her to have us both around at all times, but hopefully if that is true it is counterbalanced by the fact that I am much happier now and can therefore really be the dad I aspire to be.

Just keep the bullshit to a minimum, ALWAYS keep it away from the kids and remember that at the end of the day life is messy; there's multiple ways to live life. If you're happier separated and the kids are happy and get time with both parents, then fuck societal expectations and the guilt that people (many of whom frankly regret their decisions but won't admit it) try to engender in you for not living the "right" way. Your life and your happiness are important too. Happy people make happy parents.

Building A Comedy Blog/My Absence

To Whom It May Concern,

I am in the process of building a comedy blog, which I will link to when I am damn well ready :P While building said blog is taking quite a bit of time (I am trying to build a backlog of content before launching it; I'm like 16 posts in which is great, but not sufficient) it is only partly the reason for the absence of posts lately (the other reasons are illness, injury, laziness and a lack of inspiration). That being said, I have a few drafts in the works for this here bloggidy blog, so worry not; you'll be hearing from me soon. I haven't abandoned my baby.

Yours truly,

Seinhor Banana

P.S. If you're actually reading this and care....seek therapeutic intervention before it is too late. Wait....no, don't. For my sake, stay insane and keep this page bookmarked. Your mental health is less important to me than your readership.

10 Stubborn Body Myths (Popular with Moms!!!) Debunked by Science. Tell Your Mom!!

Sitting Too Close To The TV Can Damage Kids Eyes/Vision? Nope! Catching A Cold From Cold/Wet Weather? Nope! Moms all around the world, we, your sons all across the world, have a quote for you: "I'm not the type of guy to who says I told a so but you you know what? I fuckin a told a so." -Ricky (The Trailer Park Boys.)

http://lifehacker.com/5873922/10-stubborn-body-myths-that-just-wont-die-debunked-by-science

HORRENDOUS Testimony From a North Korean Political Prisoner

Here is one of the saddest things I have ever read. I am posting this in the hope that others will read it and this information will spread, because something needs to be done. Clearly the foreign policy of the West has nothing to offer these poor people at this point, and that is indeed a travesty. Here is an excerpt from the testimony followed by a link to the full text:

Freezing Torture

One winter night in 1987 when I was under investigation at the Chongjin Police Station, the interrogator yelled, "Bitch! You've been spoiled by the warmth in the interrogation room. I'm gonna teach you a lesson!" He made me sit outside wearing my underclothes only. It was freezing cold outside. I was showered with a bucket of cold water and left on my knees for an hour. It was here where I saw other prisoners for the first time. There were some ten prisoners on their knees before me on the ground looking like grotesque boulders. The freezing torture was repeated every night throughout the winter. Six prisoners died from this torture.
There were some ten prisoners on their knees before me on the ground. I was told to sit in the front. I walked through the other prisoners to the front. It was so cold that the guard went right back into the office. I heard a low voice, "Hey, Comrade Soon ok, it's me here!" It was Younghwan Choi, the Supply Manager of Hweryung District! Soon, I was able to recognize the familiar faces of five former colleagues. They had all been arrested under the same false charges that I was. They all realized that if they died from the torture, they would be perishing under false charges. So they all displayed strong will power to overcome the torture and survive.
However, I witnessed a total of 6 prisoners die from this freezing torture during the winter. The cold was very painful on my hands, legs and ears for the first 20 to 30 minutes. But after that, I felt nothing at all. When we were told after one hour to get up, we were literally frozen and could not stand up. We all fell several times before we somehow managed to rise and stumble back into our cold cells.
Soon, I had large swollen ears. My feet were so swollen that I could not put on my shoes. Water was running from the sores in my swollen legs. When I finally left the interrogation center and arrived at the prison, a prison official told me to apply pine resin from the shoe making factory. The resin melted all my flesh and I could see some of the bones in my feet. However, because of the resin, fresh flesh began to cover the bones and, after six months, I had normal feet again. I cannot remember when my swollen ears recovered.

Random Thought

I wonder if prostitutes ever have sales?

God Joke

God: I love you. I love all women.
Woman: Love us? You made us from man's rib in order to keep a man named Adam company in a shitty garden filled with cursed fruit and deceitful talking snakes and then blamed us for the fallout.
God: haha, I so did that.

Rory Macdonald Out of UFC 158 :( Also, 16 Fighters Released, Including One Big Name!

Well this is really unfortunate :( Rory apparently strained his neck/back and is out for 4 weeks. He was slated to rematch Carlos Condit, the only fighter to have bested the young Canadian prospect; a loss that has since fueled Macdonald's quest to never lose again on his quest to become the best welterweight on the planet. Condit will now face Johnny Hendricks, who was supposed to fight Jake Ellenberger on that same card. Ellenberger now currently finds himself sans opponent.

Hendricks vs Condit has potential but in no way is it as exciting a matchup as was Condit vs Macdonald (nor is it as exciting to me as was the Hendricks/Macdonald fight).

Hopefully Rory is okay and we can see him rematch Condit at a later date.

Source:
http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/2/18/4002778/rory-macdonald-forced-to-withdraw-from-ufc-158-due-to-injury

In other news, a slew of fighters (16, to be exact) have been released by the UFC. Jacob Volkmann was one of them, which of course will be no surprise to anyone, as the UFC brass disliked him from the start, and he certainly did not do himself any favours with his in the Octagon performances nor his outside of the ring comments. The hige shocker, however, is that Jon Fitch was among the 16 fighters let go! It looks like the UFC is really starting to cave to the lesser educated of the supposed mma "fans" (the ones who boo anything that's not unrestrained punching exchanges) although his contract dispute last year probably didn't help.

Source:
http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/2/20/4009518/jon-fitch-among-16-fighters-released-from-ufc-on-tuesday

IOC Axes Wrestling In Favour of Speed Tweeting for 2020 Olympics (And Beyond)

In a move that shocked many around the world, the IOC voted to drop wrestling from the Olympic program as of 2020:

"IOC leaders dropped wrestling from the Olympic program on Tuesday, a surprise decision that removes one of the oldest Olympic sports from the 2020 Games.
The IOC executive board decided to retain modern pentathlon — the event considered most at risk — and remove wrestling instead from its list of 25 "core sports."

In a move that shocked many more (those who aren't paying much attention to our culture) they further stated that wrestling would be replaced with "Speed Tweeting" a "sport" (assuming one could consider it as such) that consists of a group of "athletes" sending out 100 character "tweets" as quickly as possible during an allotted time-frame:

 "Tweets" must be coherent and use proper spelling/grammar to be counted towards a competitor's score. 

One possible competitor for the 2020 games is thirteen year old Riley, a North Carolina girl who, when interviewed for this story, stated that speed tweeting was "really fun but really hard." When pressed for details she had this to say "Your thumbs get really sore, and so my mom and dad take me to weekly thumb massages, and I also get one day off of school a week to rest them (note: yes, she is referring to her thumbs) so that I will be injury free when it comes time to compete."

At the time of this writing, Riley is able to send out 40 "tweets" per minute. I can't say I'm excited to see what that number is up to by 2020, but judging by the people around her, I am clearly in the minority on this. Her friends and family were absolutely jubilant when they heard the news and they were clamoring to get comments published in this article. Being the nice guy that I am *ahem* (trying to fill a word count that unfortunately cannot be filled by raised eyebrows and a blank stare) *ahem* I have published a bunch of these for your (fill in the blank yourself, but I suggest smug disdain):

"Speed tweeting combines athletics and modern technology: It's the best of two worlds!" 
"It's a cool, hip sport. This will solve the problem of reduced youth viewership."
"Wrestling is outdated and barbaric. Speed tweeting is a novel, relevant and nonviolent sport."
"Sweaty men in their underwear rolling around on the floor? That's a sport?"
"The internet is the future and it's time the Olympics joined us in it."
"I feel bad for the wrestlers but it's time that these excellent tweeters get some limelight."
"What's more important than information? Delivering it quickly!"
"People might laugh at this but they don't see the dedication Riley and others put into this demanding sport."

Link:

IOC Axes Wrestling In Favour of Speed Tweeting

Personally, I'm disgusted at this but unfortunately, not terribly surprised.

WTF News: Farmville TV Show in Development

Rush Hour/X-Men: The Last Stand Director To Produce Farmville TV Show

"Rush Hour and X-Men: The Last Stand director Brett Ratner will produce a animated FarmVille television show, according to a new report at Deadline. The show will be based on Zynga's popular online game and is in production in association with Six Eleven Media."

An animated TV show based on a Facebook game about farming.......wtf indeed.

Sights, Sounds, Feelings

Top Seven Best Sounds In the World:

-Woman having an orgasm
-Blast beat
-Slot machine jackpot
-Xbox 360 achievement unlocked sound (blop!)
-End of the day bell on the last day of school prior to the onset of summer break
-My 4 year old daughter's laugh
-The sound a head makes being decapitated in Ninja Gaiden

Top Seven Best Sights In the World:

-Woman having an orgasm, especially if another woman is involved ;)
-A litter of puppies
-My 4 year old daughter's smile
-A head being decapitated in Ninja Gaiden
-That brief period post sunset/pre-dusk with the beautiful colours in the sky
-Morning sunshine
-Campfire in a wooded area with nary a woman in view

Top Seven Best Feelings In the World:

-Pain relief
-Finally peeing when you've been forced to hold it for a long time, and your bladder is full to the brim
-An orgasm
-Being told “I love you, daddy”
-Morning sunshine
-Beating one of the modern Ninja Gaiden games on Master Ninja
-The catharsis granted by a good, old fashioned RANT

Bigfoot Silva Knocks Out Alistair Overeem! See The KO Here

....Wow. Overeem's overconfidence led him to break one of the most basic rules of striking: HANDS UP!. Keeping your hands at waist level and waiting to slip punches and counter with power shots against someone with this level of KO power? Silva isn't Brock Lesnar, Alistair.

I just hope he didn't sustain any serious/permanent brain damage in this fight.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 Initial Impressions

I have NSMB2 (3DS) rented right now and having played it for around an hour or so I thought I would post some initial impressions of the game. I'll just write this one up in bulletpoint style. Quick and easy (both to write and to read).

Story

-Princess. Plumber. Rescue. Angry turtles. About as passé as it gets. Does anyone play Mario games for the story though?

Difficulty

-I obviously cannot comment as to the difficulty of the later stages of the game, but having played through all of World 1, most of World 2, and a couple of later stages in Coin Rush mode (one from W3 and I believe the other was 5-3) I can say that thus far it seems as though this game is going to be a little too far on the easy side. I did, however, read that the secret stages are pretty tough, and some of the downloadable coin rush stages are supposed to be very hard, so in the end it sounds like the game should appease all types of gamers with respect to the difficulty found therein and how it appeals to their particular preferences. 

Three Features That Every Game Should Have But Don't

Feature One: Fully Customizable Controls

How many times have you played a game and found yourself wishing that a button on the controller did something other than what it was assigned by the developers? Ya, we all have. And that's when you check the control options to see what default control schemes they have available to use. Many times, there's one that is exactly what you were hoping for. Many other times, however, there is not. And in my experience, the  latter scenario happens as many times as does the former, if not more. So I pose a question: Why no custom controls? I'd say 5% of the games released allow the user to map the controls as they see fit (this percentage is definitely higher for PC games than it is for console games but I am talking about console games here) and all I can think is why? In what way does it harm anyone to allow the user to map the controls exactly as they would have them? If you ask me, it's nothing but positive outcomes ahead if they just start implementing this change.

Metal Gear Rising Demo Impressions (And Tips)

PlatinumGames released a demo for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance today and while the game is clearly brilliant the demo was a huge misstep that I suspect is going to cost PlatinumGames a lot of sales. Right off the bat I am going to tell you something that the demo itself does not (much to its own detriment): You can dodge back with X+A (360) or X+S (PS3) and if you add in a direction you do a dodge slash.

How can you release a demo with a tutorial that does NOT tell you how to dodge?

Brutal!

How about not telling the player that the game contains very useful combos utilizing directional inputs?

Horrible!

How about the fact that you can heal (B (360) or Circle (PS3) when prompted during Blade Mode)? The demo never mentions that?

WTF!!

It might not have been so bad if perhaps the demo wasn't REALLY hard on Normal difficulty (compared to most games released these days). They throw you into a few REALLY intense fights in the demo and you get very little in the way of practise or instruction beforehand. This is a mistake that is going to cost PG and it's a shame because having spent some time with the demo (yes, I beat it, and yes, I died several times) I can say that the combat in this game is freaking brilliant. It's incredibly different than many other hack n slash games, with a myriad of complexities that are unfortunately not immediately apparent. It manages to be  both very challenging and yet totally fair.....when you figure out how to properly play the damn thing. The demo really does not do a very good job letting you know much.

So, to any prospective players, remember these few things:

-You can heal (B (360) or Circle (PS3) when prompted during Blade Mode).
-Experiment with button input timing.
-It's hard. You will die. You learn by dying, so don't give up so easily; the game is worth it, trust me.
-You can dodge back with X+A (360) or X+S (PS3) and if you add in a direction you do a dodge slash.
-You can cancel the flying kick (Jump then strong attack when in Ninja Run mode) into a stealth attack.
-Towards, towards weak attack is a launcher
-There are also away, towards weak/strong moves as well as a towards, towards weak one (all powerful)
-Use the lock on during every fight. Forget trying to adjust the camera during fights.
-The game WANTS you to use Blade Mode, so USE it. Especially on large enemies.

There's more I am forgetting and there's also more I am sure I do not yet know. This is a game that requires effort, thought, practise and patience, just like all of the best hack n slash games. And, like those, I can guarantee that there is going to be a small community of extremely dedicated and adept players who will be putting out some incredible gameplay/combo videos over the coming years. And, just as true as that is, there will also be a large group of people who played the demo, got their ass kicked and shut the game off, forever writing it off as a bad game. I find that to be unfortunate. However, what I find to be even more unfortunate is that PlatinumGames is going to cause a lot of that themselves with a very underwhelming and insufficiently explanatory demo.

I really hope this incredibly talented development studio can iron out their issues and earn the sales I think they deserve.

The Next Chapter Of My Life Is Underway

Ciao
Bon Giorno
Hello
Ola

How are you doing? Well I hope :) I myself am doing quite well. I mean, not specifically at the moment (lots of pain related to my Crohn's disease) but overall I am doing GREAT, and the recent events in my life which constitute this newfound contentment are the subject of this latest blog post. I might work some in towards the end of this but I cannot guarantee it, so if you're a regular reader hoping to read something that pertains to the main topics covered in this blog I want to warn you right now that this post may offer you nothing of note and as such you may want to simply turn back and return when I post the next update. So, that preamble/warning aside, what exactly has been happening in my life lately that has made me so happy?

Let's go through the list, shall we?

Halo 4: A Non Shooter Fan's Initial Impressions

As any of my readers would know, I am no longer much of a shooter fan. Gone are the days and nights soaked in blood and filled with the acrid smoke of grenades gone boom. Most of my video game playtime consists of me playing XBLA games and RPG's (right now I am playing Code of Princess on the 3DS). When I do play shooters, they are almost always 3rd person rather than first, and also not shooters in the sense of the word I use (think Gears of War or Vanquish). The ones I play are more in the vein of Dead Space and Resident Evil. Action horror games, basically. Those and OLD SCHOOL shooters aka shmups like Geometry Wars and Score Rush.

However, there are those times (usually herbally ameliorated) that I find myself playing a shooter. Usually one of the COD games with friends. Or, in the case of the last few days, some Halo 4 co-op campaign. These sessions are usually fairly fun but inevitably result in a rapid onset of absolute boredom.

Not last night.

What The Hell Is Going on In America? A Crazy, Random Rant.

NOTE: This is an OLD unpublished draft that was sitting on my hard drive. Consider it a TTG'S outtake.

This is a repost of an impromptu forum post of mine from a little while ago. I was posting in a topic about Socialism and the attittudes towards it in America, and as I was discussing that, I sort of went off on an unexpected tangent. When I say unexpected, I mean unexpected, although, in retrospect, this has been brewing for a while. I was likely going to blog on it sometime, but BLAH, out it came onto the page in the middle of this discussion.

I cleaned it up somewhat, although it will still be a bit sloppy and you'll be able to see that my thoughts were jumbled at the time (due to the pain mediaction I was taking).

Anyways, without further ado, here are my jumbled thoughts regarding the state of affirs in America, with respect to politics, and attitudes towards things like Universal Healthcare (ooooohhh, yes, socialized medicine).

Just promise to keep in mind the fact that this was impromptu, and posted while both very sleep deprived, not feeling well, and on narcotic pain medication for symptoms related to my bowel dieases.

Bill (stuttering for the first time in 28 years): P-p-p-ph-pr-pr-p-pPro-Promi-Promi-Promise Me!

Audra: Bill, you're scaring me.

Bill: Promise me you'll stay!

Audra: You're crazy. This is crazy!

Bill leaves.

Audra: It's jusr crazy.

Hey, Global Warming Deniers! We Need to Have a Little Chat!

For you Global Warming deniers out there, I have a few things to say to you:

-Be wary of any research coming out against GW/GCC/AGW/AGCC. Check where it's coming from. Is it peer reviewed, and published in an accredited scientific journal? Or is it not (careful too, as now people in the denier communities for both global warming and evolution are starting to catch on to this and are forming their own journals, and claiming to be accredited and peer reviewed, so always, always look the journal up if it's not instantly recognizable). There's a huge difference between a study published in Nature and one published in some no name journal with author publishing and no peer review. Or ones coming from a think tank. A think tank that, if you do a bit of digging, you will find out is funded by Exxon Mobil and Sean Hannity.

-Be very skeptical of anyone in the media speaking out against global warming, and listen carefully to their arguments/claims. If they are making any that aren't obviously fallacious upon first hearing/reading/seeing them (like Limbaugh's argument from incredulity) look them up. Also, look the person up. Find out who's funding them. Who they work for.

-If any scientists speak out against global warming, pay attention to what discipline of science they are experts in. When a biologist or a chemist expresses doubt about global warming, appealing to that in an argument is nothing but an appeal to authority. Their expertise is not in climatology. Being as smart as they may be, and knowing what they know about their area of science affords them NO special bonuses when it comes to climatology. They're just a layman like myself, and can easily be wrong.

DMC: Devil May Cry Demo Up on Xbox 360 Marketplace

Demo Link

Enjoy!!

(Impressions to come later; it's currently being downloading onto my xbox, a process I must endure before I can dissect this long awaited demo).

The Inherent 'Evil' Within Christianity

This is a comment left by someone named Glen on Ray Comfort's stupid blog:

The better question is have you lied? Have you stolen? Have you hated someone? Have you prostituted? Have you ever born false witness? Have you ever used God's name as a dirty filthy cuss word? And better would you used your mamos name that way? Have you ever had sex with more than your spouce? Have you ever dishonored your parents? Thats right both of them together or independently.
Hitler was just as bad off as anyone living on the plannet including you. He may have done more nasty symptoms of the disease but that very same disease affects you; to your very core.
Ray treats the disease not the symptoms.

I responded to him:

@ Glen:


"The better question is have you lied? Have you stolen? Have you hated someone? Have you prostituted? Have you ever dishonored your parents?"


Have you ever told the truth? Have you ever given? Have you loved someone? Have you not prostituted? Have you honored your parents?


If by your logic, a yes to those means you're a "sinner," then logic dictates that a yes means you're the opposite of that.


So much for your little "disease." Sounds mor elike human experience.


Btw, I feel sad for you. Your religion has taught you to think that you are no better than somone who was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. I cannot even begin to express how unfair that is.


This is why the only sin is belief in your religion. It teaches you to be ashamed of your very nature and to equate lying with murder.


Btw, lying can be positive, parents don't deserve to be honored if they do not honor their children, hate can be justifed (Hitler, anyone?), and prostitution is not inherently wrong. If you think it is, explain how.

See, this is one of the main problems with christianity. Teaching people that they are born dirty, bad, sinful, wrong, evil, etc. All 'sins' are equal. The logical conclusion derived from these two ideas? "I'm a horrible, corrupted person who deserves to be punished and is in need of redemption. In fact, I'm no better than Hitler."

That fills me with so much despair. Such guilt, and for what? FOR NOTHING!! FOR FUCK'S SAKE IT IS PREDICATED UPON BULLSHIT!!!!!!

GAAAAHHHHH!!!! 

Why So Serious?

Why So Serious?

Why the fuck are games so serious now? Back in the day, games were made to be fun. Now, a lot of the time, it seems to be that games are made to approximate the experience you get in a Hollywood blockbuster or whatever. They have to have all of the elements in place that make a big, immersive, “realistic” experience, and while that can be, and often is, great, and effective.....CHILL THE FUCK OUT A BIT! Sometimes I hear the word “realistic” in an interview or read it in a press release and I inwardly groan, because in my view, this often time comes at the expense of fun.

Think about it: “Realistic” means no cheats. No new game+. The restrictions imposed by the rules of physics and such. You know, sometimes it would be nice to be able to jump 30 feet high, turn on no gravity, big heads, paintball mode, infinite ammo, and other cheats, start a game with an overpowered character, and just HAVE FUN. No story, no drama, no rules, no realism. Just quirky, chaotic, crazy fun.

Like the old days.

And yes, I know these games still exist, but you must admit the balance has certainly shifted towards the serious and “realistic.” Take the FPS genre for example. I'm bored as shit with FPS games, and perhaps this realism thing is a part of it (perhaps, I'm not saying it is for sure, and it certainly wouldn't be all of it!). Every shooter seems to be a military shooter with real weapons. How about some crazy jumping, get those reflexes ready, twitch based craziness with completely over the top weapons and abilities? Let's get crazy!

Look at Earth Defence Force 2017: The game looks like shit, sounds like shit, has terrible dialogue, terrible cutscenes, a poor story, broken fucking vehicle control, ridiculous, over the top....well, everything, and it's a FUCKING BLAST!!! It reminds of me of old school games. You start shooting and you don't stop shooting until every last gigantic spider and gigantic, acid shooting out of their asses ant is dead. You use a huge variety of all sorts of fun weaponry, half of which are ridiculously unrealistic, and, get this: the gigantic space alien bugs that you fight drop weapon, armour and health pickups that are represented by a terrible looking 2D icon. I LOVE THAT! Just adds to the old school game/'B' movie vibe.

Realism can be great. Some games are so incredibly immersive because of their realistic and serious tone, but it can get really fucking redundant when they all start being made in a similar vein. Crazy jumps, wonky physics, out of control situations, over the top dialogue, jokes galore, etc. Games are supposed to be fun. I often wish the focus would be more on fun than it is on making the game 'AAA' and shipping 5 million units because the kids got to feel like they were a U.S. Marine for 8 hours.....or at least think they felt like one (they have no idea....and neither do I, but I know a game certainly doesn't approximate the experience). That's the thing, a game will always be a game, so maybe they should keep that in mind.

But maybe it's just me.

The Bullshit of DLC

The Bullshit of DLC

Note: This is an old post that was sitting unpublished in my draft list. It may be outdated in terms of some specific details. 

Okay, so I have been bitching about DLC for quite some time, on an intermittent basis. While I have provided some examples in the past of what I believe constituted bullshit, ripoff, exploitative DLC, and what I considered fair DLC worth purchasing, I never provided an open shut case for my stance.

This time, however, I have done some homework, and I think what I have come up with constitutes damn near investigative journalism. Hey, if the 'pro' video game journalists don't have the balls to do it, someone has to step up and do it for them, right? Might as well be me!

Thoughtcrime in Christianity

Anyone who has read the seminal dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell will be familiar with the concept of thoughtcrime, which is quite simply illegal thought. In Orwell's portrayl of a dystopian future, the totalitarian government surveys the thoughts of the people via 'psychology surveillance' (should have been called psychological surveillance imo).

Contrary to popular belief, however, the concept of thoughtcrime is not original to Orwell and his great piece of fiction. The concept actually appears in another piece of fiction, about 2000 YEARS before the release of his novel!

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus Announced

This was announced last month but I just now found out:

http://www.siliconera.com/2012/09/19/ninja-gaiden-sigma-2-plus-coming-to-vita-in-early-2013/

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus is coming to the Vita in "early 2013." This is completely expected but still great news for Ninja Gaiden fans, even if NGS2 was a ste'p down in terms of quality (as compared to the 'vanilla' NG2).

Any Classic or Legendary Games This Generation?

NOTE: This is an older post that was sitting in my drafts. 

Here is a list of games that I think I'm safe referring to as legendary in the sense that a significant portion of the video game community see them as being the cream of the crop, and the review scores for each of these games were very high. Of course, I personally don't like all of these games, and neither will you, but I think it's inarguable that they are highly esteemed and influential, and/or were important/noteworthy at the time of release:

Cutest Picture in the World

Theist PWND on Gamefaqs

Note: This is an older post that was sitting in my drafts.

Theist PWND on Gamefaqs.

In a discussion on the inclusion of JFK in the upcoming Call of Duty game (something I knew/know nothing about, since I don't follow the games, but this discussion was being had by others and I chimed in) the following ridiculous, frustrating, saddening, angering exchange (more like an ownage session) (with someone I have never spoken to online prior to this) was had:

Bayonetta 2 Announced....But It's a Wii U Exclusive

http://www.gamespot.com/news/bayonetta-2-wii-u-exclusive-6396397

Bayonetta 2 will be a Wii U exclusive, Nintendo revealed today. Platinum Games, creator of the original Bayonetta, will be taking up development duties once more, with the game set for release in March 2013.

This is definitely a case of jumping up and down in excitement and then stopping to scratch your head. Oh well, Bayonetta 2 is a go!

In the Hot Seat with magx: magx01

Note: This is 2 years old. I just found it and am posting it for nostalgic reasons. Some of this is going to now be inaccurate, seeing as how 2 years have passed, but much of it still holds. I am going to re-do this and then post it as a new blog entry so that the differences between then and now can be viewed. I think it will be interesting.

The few of you from GT who read this blog will recognize this. I had interviewed myself as part of my "in the hot seat with magx" Gametrailers interview series (of which there were like 20 or so iirc and it was quite popular on GT) and had not gotten around to posting it before I left GT, so I thought, what the hell, might as well put it up here, right?

.....*Ahem* ....Okay! Well, let's get started. In the hot seat today is

magx01!!

Name

Anthony

Age

28

Gender

Male

Serial Number

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288…

Whether you are susceptible to any diseases?

I am susceptible to anything any other human is susceptible to. I am particularly susceptible to certain pathogens, however, thanks to my compromised immune system. My immune system is compromised because of my bowel diseases (Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis) as well as the immunosupressant drugs I have to be on.

Black Ops II gets $180 Care Package edition

http://www.gamespot.com/news/black-ops-ii-gets-180-care-package-edition-6393731

Ahahahahahahahaha!! Activision really has no qualms with being ridiculously obvious and shameless in their  bilking of COD fans (in addition to the blatant milking of the COD series). Unreal.

Leo Laporte: "Advertisers Hate a Smart Audience"

This is from a recent reddit AMA (ask me anything, which is a (usually promotional) candid interview done by anyone who wishes to participate) with Leo Laporte (formerly of TechTV fame):

Question: When did you know that TechTV wasn't going to survive?
Leo Laporte's Answer: About a year before it folded. I remember trying to tell the TechTV executives that we should target the 14 million computer programmers in the US with really smart programming. They told me that sponsors hate a smart audience and there was no future in smart programming. That's when I started polishing up my resume.

And there you have it, folks. Straight from someone in the business. Those "TV is dumbed down" people seem to have a point, and once again, it all leads back to money.

Drunken Infomercial Escapade

Watched late night tv drunk as hell and now I own a snuggie, a Dyson vacuum cleaner, some vegetable chopper thing and am also apparently enrolled in some nursing school in Buffalo. But, before you assume I wasted my money, somewhere down the line when I am stoned and/or drunk, wrapped in my snuggie trying to use my new vegetable chopper thing to make myself a snack while my Dyson vacuum cleaner works its low setting magic on my balls and I severely cut a finger my nursing degree will give me the knowledge I need to treat myself at home to save the embarrassment of showing up at the hospital wrapped in a snuggie with a vacuum cleaner attached to my balls. 

Moderate Muslims Don't Like Being Lumped In with Extremists? Well, Differentiate Yourselves!!

NOTE: This is an old entry that was sitting in my drafts and I decided to upload it as it reflects the state of mind I was in at a specific time in my life. Glancing over it, I guess it must have been during the Danish cartoonist controversy. Edit: No, the South Park controversy. 

So, in this blog I am going to be frank. I find myself harboring quite the distaste for Islam as of late, and I feel as though my opinions of it are becoming biased to an unfair degree. Now, I do, 100% acknowledge that the vocal majority is actually a minority, but damn it, I'm not hearing too many voices from the moderate camp coming up to try and join the conversation. I mean, it might be tough to hear them over the explosions, but the-

See?

That's not nice.

Or isn't it? It's fucking true, is it not?

See?

This is what I mean.

The Milky Way Seen From Mars. PIC!!!

Pagan Origins of (Aspects of) Christianity

NOTE: This blog is about the pagan origins of Christian rituals and holidays. This is a compilation of information I had saved on my hard drive, the origins of which are unfortunately unknown. I wish to make clear that I have NOT done much research into this area, and so I must preface this with a GRAIN OF SALT warning. Any errors made here, I take full responsibility for. If you spot any, please inform me of them. And if there are none, well, great, let me know that as well.

Okay, so, let's get to it: The pagan origins of (aspects of) Christianity. To be more specific, I will be looking at the origins of Christmas and Easter, specifically. Then the question of whether or not any of this disproves or casts doubt upon the veracity of the religons' claims is (very ) briefly examined.

Thousands Of Gods....One Thing in Common....

Anyone else find it odd that there are apparently thousands of gods in existence, each with differing ideologies, origins, desires and goals, yet the one thing they all seem to share in common with 100% inclusiveness is an inclination to be completely undetectable...

hhhmmmmm......

Why I Love RPG's So Much. (And What Took Me So Long to Realize It)

The last few years, I have really attained a love for role playing games. But it wasn't always that way. Come with me on a journey, a journey where a young, biased action gamer learns that RPG's can be fun too.....

The story begins a long time ago. A time when this:

Viva la mullet!

was considered okay to sport around town (I never had one).

See, I have been gaming since the late 80's, and growing up, all I played were action games and platformers, with the occasional puzzle game thrown in. I had seen and heard of role playing games, but I wrote them off as boring and stupid, and never bothered to play one until I played Quest 64 in the mid '90's. That shitty game confirmed my preconceived notions, and put me off of rpg's for another several years, until I played Fable on xbox.

*waits for flames*

Having a Relationship with God

WARNING! EXTREME

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, you have a relationship with god, do you?

How fortuitous! There's this omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, omnibenevolent, eternal being which has the power to create entire universes and all of the life within them, and this being has decided to bestow upon you, one lowly human out of around 7 billion lowly humans, the very distinctive honour of having an ongoing relationship with him/her/it.

So, having made the decision, for seemingly no reason at all, to grant you this honour, this being enters your heart, hunkers down in one of your aortic valves, and remains there until the day you die, guiding you, helping you, being your spiritual guide, your confidante, your friend. And then, upon your death, this being grants you the even bigger honour of living with him/her/it for eternity in his/her/its eternal amusement park.

And all the while, there are others, just like you, who do NOT receive such gifts. They languish on the earth in spiritual limbo, so to speak, struggling with the inability to really establish a strong faith and maintain it, and for this, they are sent to the eternal torture chamber upon their earthly demise. While you munch on greasy burgers and candied apples, they get hot oil poured down their gullet. While you ride the Tilt-A-Whirl, your hair streaming around your face as your cries of joy reverberate off of the high backed seat, their screams of anguish go unheeded as the hot pokers are jabbed into their eyeballs while their lower bodies are submerged into pools of red hot magma.

And this prompts me to ask:  

What did you do differently?

Why are you granted this special privilege? What makes you so special?

Why is it that some people's lives are saved by this being while others perish?


Why is it that some rappers careers' are helped by this being, while others are left to their own devices?


Why is it that some sports teams are helped by this being, while others are left to fend for themselves?


Why is it that some people are seemingly designed to be skeptical and incredulous when it comes to metaphysical claims, yet others are not only made to be credulous and not skeptical, but also granted that aforementioned special relationship?


What makes some people so important?

Here's a question for you: Are some people actually extra special and the deserving recipients of both a personal relationship with the creator of the entire universe and access to his/her/its eternal amusement park, or are they just people with incredible hubris, who don't even realize how incredibly narcissistic and self centered this claim really sounds? I mean, imagine, claiming that you're so special, so chosen, that the creator of the world is going to bestow upon you a relationship and eternal life. Wow.

Wow indeed.

Personally, I vote for incredible hubris. I think religion plays right into this reward schema without triggering the realization within these people that what they are claiming reeks of literally incredible hubris. Think about it: So many people die and go to hell, never knowing god.....but not you! Oh no, you get a personal relationship and eternal salvation. You have the corrrect theology, the correct god, and the relationship to seal the deal of eternal bliss, amidst a sea of torment. How fortuitous.

How fortuitous indeed.

Nostalgia: Do You Experience It? Also, A Hypothetical Situation.

Nostalgia: Do You Experience It? Also, A Hypothetical Situation.

Many gamers experience a phenomenon referred to as nostalgia. What this is, for those who do not know, is a feeling of longing for the past that is fraught with (often times) bittersweet sentimentality. Specifically, in reference to video games, nostalgia is a longing for a time in which certain video games systems, and certain video games, were current. The gamer was younger, and they were experiencing beloved games from what is now their past as brand new, cutting edge, and exciting. An example of this is someone remembering their  birthday in 1991, a day during which they received a Sega Genesis console with two games and they spent 10 hours that day playing those games with their brother, and hours more every day of the week for years afterwards. They remember this and they long for those days. They wish they could go back to them, and they feel like nothing these days reaches that level of emotional impact and/or just plain fun.

Deaf Man Gets Treated Like A Piece of Garbage In Airports

" The Louisville TSA called me a “fucking deafie” and laughed at me because I was deaf, and they expected wouldn’t say anything back (or wouldn’t hear them). Make no bones about it — she was facing me and I read her lips. There was no mistake. I would later find out that they had called at least 4 other individuals the same thing. "

http://teaandtheatre.tumblr.com/post/26846647001

This just made me sick to my stomach. I had no idea that this kind of thing was happening in 2012 to deaf people. These people are disgusting stains on humanity.

Hypocrisy, Propaganda, Brainwashing and Weed

It's really amazing how we all grew up just accepting certain facts, while not expressing, nor being encouraged to express, the slightest bit of incredulity.

For example, the things were were taught about marijuana: 

It's socially acceptable to say "I've had a really rough week. I'm going to have my friends come over and pound back a bunch of shots and play some video games so I can unwind and forget all about this stressful week."

It's socially unacceptable to say "I've had a really rough week. I'm going to have my friends come over and smoke a joint and play some video games so I can unwind and forget all about this stressful week."

It's legal to have my friends come over and pound back a bunch of shots and play some video games so I can unwind and forget all about my stressful week.

It's illegal to have my friends come over and smoke a joint and play some video games so I can unwind and forget all about my stressful week.

Yet, I submit to you this: What's the difference?

Oldest Preserved Internet Comment?

Comment on a USENET group from 1981:

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!msg/net.general/yJn8WHlzc7U/lPyVdYqCXyAJ

(Yes, 1981).