A Little Help From My Friends...

There is a new TV show that I'm now completely in love with, my dear readers. It airs Monday nights at 9pm on FOX. The show is called: The Following. The story of the show centers around a retired FBI agent Ryan Hardy (played by Kevin Bacon) who is called out of retirement when the serial killer Joe Carroll (played by James Purefoy) , whom Hardy caught, escapes from death row. Hardy quickly catches Carroll, but during the course of the investigation finds out that during his time in prison, Carroll had created a cult of serial killers through various social media outlets. So even with Carroll behind bars, the case isn't over because of ... The Following... that Carroll has built.

I've watched two episodes of the show so far, and I have to tell you that this show has been nothing less than AMAZING!! There is this intoxicating mix of crime procedural, thriller, and character drama that is relentless. The show just grabs you and doesn't let you go. The best part of the story is that the story has so many options to explore. There's the typical stuff of investigating a crime and learning about the investigators, their lives and how the investigation takes its toll on them. But, with the cult aspect of the show, there's also this whole other avenue open to exploration: the members of the cult. It looks like there is going to be power plays between the members of the cult. They all love Joe Carroll, but that doesn't mean they all like each other. The lack of mindless belief in their leader gives so many levels of complexity to the show, it will be amazing to see how the producers of the show play it out.

I've always held the opinion that when you have masters working on their craft, you get superior work. So far, the writers of the show have proven this. However, my first interest in the show was because of the casting of Kevin Bacon. I've been a fan of Bacon since I first saw him in Footloose. (Yes, I watched the original film in the 80s. Shut up.) In his recent films, he's always delivered solid, very raw performances. He doesn't do a lot of polishing which makes his characters seem more like real people. Seeing him as a broken FBI agent who believes his best days are behind him was very provocative.

Then I found out that James Purefoy was on the show AND he was the main villain. That was just amazing news to discover. And after watching the first two episodes, Purefoy delivered so much more than I could have hoped. He has this insane intensity that he lends to the role of Joe Carroll that not only adds weight to the role, but allows you to fully believe that this man could inspire not only his students (Joe Carroll was a college professor before he turned to his life of crime), but also dozens, possibly hundreds of people to kill and/or be killed in his honor.

Watching the scenes with both of them together was like the first taste of the best meal you've ever had. The raw, broken, angry FBI agent facing off against the cultured, charismatic serial killer in a game of cat & mouse that is like no other simply because of its scope was truly riveting to watch. 

I've watched a lot of crime solving shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, Castle, etc. And the one thing they all have in common is that the truly great episodes come when the featured villain is competent and complex enough to provide a true challenge to heroes of the show. Especially when the challenge is so great that that heroes can believably lose to that villain. Those are usually the episodes that I really enjoy. The Following starts you with that villain, and because of the effort to maintain a close parallel to reality, the villain has every possibility of winning not only the battle, but the war.

Personally, the part I'm most excited to see is how they develop the cult aspect of the show. The idea that anyone, anywhere could be connected to the serial killer and/or be a killer themselves is just too enticing! If you are into this kind of material, my dear readers, I would truly recommend watching The Following. You will love it!

My Headspace...

It's been a long time since I've posted on the blog. I'm not going to apologize for it, but I can explain. Despite having the free time again, I have been feeling... not lost, but adrift. There is no motivation. No enthusiasm. No energy to do anything. It's like I'm unplugged from everything around me.

I go through the motions, say the right things, react the right way, but there's mostly just emptiness. There are moments when things seem normal, but the moments pass and I'm right back to the emptiness. One manifestation of that is the lack of ideas for writing posts for this blog. Hell, I've barely even LOOKED at this site for weeks. And when the ideas do come, I just write them down on a piece of paper or some text file on my phone or PC and then forget about it. Or maybe a quick little status update on Facebook, but nothing more. The interest just wasn't there.

I started this blog three years ago (Wow, three years??) because I wanted a forum where I could talk about things that interested me in a more full, and permanent way than just a quick FaceBook or MySpace status update. But what happens when I don't care enough to say anything about anything? Just look at the numbers. Last year I posted about 50 times on here. The year before was double that number, 2 years ago was TRIPLE. Am I just not caring about blogging? I don't think so, because I still write down ideas for blog posts. I just don't actually WRITE the posts. It seems the interest is there, but something is in the way. Or more accurately, the spark is there, but the flame never ignites.

Is this what is classified as depression? Or just obsessive boredom? Is there such a thing as "obsessive boredom"?

I try to connect, to plug back into life, but I find it difficult to care about others the way I used to. Back when I felt that I was the one who had to help everyone. I think it's called a "hero complex" or something similar. I used to believe it was an extension of being the eldest of my siblings. Being the responsible one for my family made sense of my life, and I pushed that out to everyone that I encountered. There was some "evidence" to support the theory, friends and family who had gone off the rails after I stopped being in regular contact with them. However, looking back on it now, I have to admit that it was just an empty measure of arrogance. People are responsible for their own lives. It's not MY job to help anyone but myself. Even those I care about (what few remain) are not mine to support. If they ask, I can, but it's not my CAREER, or main purpose in LIFE.

But without the philosophy of "I'm the eldest so I'm responsible", what else is there?

Some would say romance, but that has never worked for me. For whatever reason, I don't connect with the fairer sex. Not that I can't. Most of the women I know think I'm an amazing man, but I don't connect with women the right way to make romance work. I think mostly it has to do with the fact that I am most comfortable alone. But that's a tired topic, and I don't want to get into it yet again.

Some would say work, but that's not really an option. I'm currently unemployed again. Most of my jobs have lasted for about 2 years, so there really isn't an sense of stability there either.

Some would say friends, but all my friends are living their lives. Most are married, some even have kids. They are moving forward, realizing their goals. Their lives are full, there's no room for someone who is locked in stasis.

To be honest, I'm surprised that I'm writing this post at all. Maybe I'm coming out of it. Maybe my penchant for analysis is helping me break this in some way...

Maybe this is just another step into the emptiness.

Maybe this is just a symptom of being up at this late hour... Now I'm just rambling... Good night, my dear readers. I hope to post something more interesting next time.

Thoughts on... Gun control

I would like to preface this by saying that I believe the only guns we should have should be in video games.

My dear readers, this blog is usually full of fluff and nonsense. It's meant to be a vehicle for me to write out the thoughts that run across my brain and not to be a bastion of hard hitting journalism or soul changing philosophy. However, after the events that occurred in Newtown, CT there has been a lot of arguing about why these shootings keep happening. And this has sparked up, once again, the gun control debate in this country. And to be honest, there are valid points on both sides of that particular debate.

But if you really look at the cause of the issue (either the Newtown incident or gun violence in general), the problem isn't the guns, that's just a symptom. The problem is PEOPLE. In one of his comedy specials, Chris Rock proposed a unique idea to resolving the issue of gun violence in this country:

Gun control? We need bullet control! I think every bullet should cost $5,000 dollars. Because if a bullet cost five thousand dollars, we wouldn't have any innocent bystanders.

This statement, while meant to be a joke, has two pieces of remarkable insight. 1) That there are more ways to deal with gun violence than banning guns. After all, the GUN is protected by the U.S. Constitution, not the BULLETS the gun fires. 2) To really get to the source of gun violence you have to manipulate the PEOPLE. Charging $5K a bullet changes the entire framework of how people relate to guns. It's not just a few hundred dollars and a 15 day waiting period, now it's a MAJOR expense. You could buy a car for $5K, put a down payment on a house, go on a cruise, etc... So, is it really worth it to go shoot someone at that price? It gets you thinking and changing your behavior. This is called manipulation.

Governments have clued into this a long, long time ago. This is WHY they delve so deeply into controlling the information we receive. Controlling information controls what conclusions you make based on that information, those conclusions build your worldview, which controls how you think and react to the events around you. This is mind control. REAL mind control. Just on a very subtle scale. But at the end of the day, when you strip all the fancy terminology, it's just manipulation. However, the issue right now is how to reduce gun violence in schools.

And to be completely honest, I think Chris Rock's idea is a good one. so, up the price on all ammunition!! And then funnel all the proceeds of the inflated pricing into a pool of money for each state with IRONCLAD laws(meaning no legal wiggle room) that explicitly states the money will fund the following:

1) An expansion of school budget to hire a small squad of unemployed veterans to protect the school.

This lowers our unemployment rate (helps the economy), gives our veterans a sense of purpose (they are protecting our country's greatest resource our children), so suicide rate amongst them will drop, gives the school expert personnel to run school shooting drills, teach gun safety to the children (which will cut down on accidental shootings), help with PE (which can reduce the country's obesity problem), give self defense training to girls (reducing their chances of getting raped in the future), and increases the available staff for things like study halls and detention (freeing up time for teachers to get other work done).

2) The creation and maintenance of state run mental health programs so that the people of this country have access to way to ease the stresses of their lives and prevent them from going "postal" and shooting up schools.

Let's be honest. If the shooter was in therapy, he wouldn't have been shooting up the school. And with the awareness of the programs, people will become more mindful of the warning signs, in themselves and in their loved ones. Everyone goes through tough times, and invariably what gets us through it intact is the other people around us.

In the end, the idea is solve the problem from BOTH sides of the issue and not to argue over whether just getting rid of guns is the answer. Let's get real here, if guns weren't freely available, the Anarchist Cookbook (go and download it, it's freely available) shows many other amazing ways of killing people, including several delightful types of bombs. And people can freely murder each other with knives, belts, shoes, pillows, sticks, rocks, plastic bags, and the ever present hands and feet. Hell, in a TV show I watch when they ran out of bullets, they switched to swords. There has never, is never, will never be any shortage of available weaponry with which to be violent.

No, the real answer is work with people. Give them opportunities to express themselves; to vent their frustrations and anger in safe, non-lethal ways. Eventually, we can get to the point where we don't want to shoot each other. However, this is a long, involved process taking a great deal of time. In a country as attention deficient as the US, I'm not sure we can ever get there. But I hope that we can take the time and make the smart policy changes to get us there.

Into Darkness

I found out that Paramount has released a teaser trailer before the release of the real trailer on Dec.17th. I have just watched it and it looks AMAZING!!! I can't wait until next summer!!! Here's the video:


I saw that trailer, and I was like WOW! And this is the "announcement" trailer for another trailer (which, yes, I think is completely dumb, but there's nothing I can do about that), can you IMAGINE what that's going to be like? Oh, and the actor doing the voice over, Benedict Cumberbatch, is a personal favorite of mine, most recently seen in the BBC series, Sherlock, playing none other than Sherlock Holmes himself.

If you wish to see him without going to the UK, check out The Hobbit. He'll be playing the part of a Necromancer, joining his Sherlock co-star Martin Freeman (young Bilbo Baggins). I remember being worried about the first installment in the Star Trek reboot, but when I watched it, all worries were taken away. It hit all the right character notes, had a great cast, and had a great, engaging storyline. It looks like Bad Robot Productions is keeping things going with the sequel. This makes me wish there were a Star Trek show on TV, though. *sigh*

Until next time, my dear readers, live long and prosper.

Funny Thing Happened This Morning...

Here's a bit of humor to start your day, my dear readers.

I found out this morning, that my apt holds grudges. I don't know why it's pissed off at me, but I must have done something. Here's what happened. As I was leaving the apt this morning, I saw one of my roommates getting ready to go to work. I offer a ride and they agree. I open the apt door, then open the screen door(which has a loose lower panel), say, "Okay, I'll go warm up the car", and step outside.


In retrospect, I realize that was my mistake. Stepping outside.

The battle started with the doormat. The little fucker slid just as my foot landed so my leg just went out from under me. The screen door then screeched at me and smacked me while I was falling to alter my trajectory and I ended up falling to my right. I was wearing my backpack, which cleverly blocked the porch floor's attack. But, that pissed off the side wall who proceeded to crack me in the back of the head while angrily shouting, "Muthafucker!!"

As my head rebounds off the wall, the lower panel of the screen door puts King Leonidas to shame yelling, "SPARTA" and detaching itself from the rest of the door and flying directly at my face just in time to add the energy from my rebounding head to its strike.

Their anger sated, for the moment, they disengaged from me and allowed my roommate to help me regain my feet. When they asked what happened, I realize that the blitz attack happened so fast, no one else but me saw the real events of the attack.

I would like to say that I held up a lot better in this fight. I really do, but I can't. They caught me by surprise and it was 5 to 1 (doormat, screen door, wall, floor, and lower panel) odds. Plus, I'm a lover not a fighter, so I was doomed from the start. If this happens again, I hope I'll be ready and handle myself better.  

But, I swear to you, my dear readers, that is EXACTLY what happened. So, beware of your apt, it might just be pissed at you, too!

Because He's The White Dude? Really??

Okay, I have really had it with some of the presidential campaign ads that I've been seeing recently. I'm sure you've seen them too. The Pro-Obama ads that imply (or sometimes just flat out state) that anything short of messianic love of Obama means you're a racist douche-bag with a swastika tattooed on your left nut who just loves hanging with your KKK pals and jerking off to pics of Hitler ass-raping the minorities before kicking them into a gas chamber. Stuff like an ad asking why someone would like Romney. They list a bunch of his stances in politics (fair game) and then end it with:

"Or is it because he's the white dude and you really HATE Obama?"

Really, people? I have lived in this country my whole life and I've lived through many presidential campaigns, but this is a new low. Despite the admitted problems this country has, the thing that makes me LOVE living here is the core philosophy and ideals which we strive to live up to every day. One of the most famous of those ideals is the first amendment. Amongst other things, the first amendment of the US Constitution gives us freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. Add those two freedoms together and you give the citizens of the US the freedom to believe anything we want to believe.

Now, I'm someone who supports Obama. I firmly believe he's the right candidate for the job. But, I do understand that a coherent and cogent case can be made for Mitt Romney's candidacy. There is an intelligent argument for him to be president. I may not agree with that argument, but it's THERE. If the strongest pro-Obama argument out there is that you're racist if you don't vote for him, then Obama shouldn't win. Why because that argument is blatantly moronic. And, yes, I mean it. Seriously, to accuse people of being racist just because they don't believe that Obama did a good job these past four years is freaking idiotic! Here's how idiotic this is:

The definition of racism (according to Merriam Webster's dictionary) is the following:

Racism (noun):
A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

Note that there aren't any racial distinctions there. Anyone, of any color, can be racist towards anyone else of any color. Going by the definition above, the people who created these ad campaigns calling people racist are themselves being racist by assuming that race is the primary determinant of how people will vote in this election!! Get that?

Racist people are accusing others of being racist for not liking their candidate based on his race. 

HOW FREAKING STUPID IS THAT??

And the worst part is, because of the politically correct undercurrents in this culture, there are people out there who will change their vote out of fear of being accused of racism (which is getting the same social stigma as being accused of rape). So, we're resorting to fear based ad campaigns in this country?? Really?

It's one thing to accuse the Congress members who dedicated themselves to making sure Obama was a single term president before he stepped foot into the office of being racist. They had nothing but the color of his skin to base their opinions on. And as elected officials, they are to be held to a higher standard while in office and making policy for this country. But now? After four years of Obama being in office? He wouldn't be doing his job right if he didn't piss people off. And those pissed off people have the right to vote for someone else. That's what being in a FREE COUNTRY is about, people!!

Now, do I admit that there are racists out there who want President Blackenstein out of office? Yes, I do. They are out there. And they have every right to be out there. This is a land of the free and we are free to believe whatever we choose, even if its racist. But don't go throwing the baby out with bathwater here, people. The actual racists out there don't account for the ENTIRE republican voting population. They don't even account for most of it. Thankfully, none of the candidates have approved any of the ads that I've seen. I don't want to know what kind of political crap storm would occur if that happened.

Now, this is a land of the free, so I can't stop them from spewing this excrement. I usually just change the channel or skip the ad, but the sheer amount of this stuff that I have to avoid is getting REALLY annoying. And I'm sick of it.

To all you Romney supporters out there, stand strong! This Obama supporter believes that you are good people who are making the choice you believe is right, and not choosing out of any racist tendencies. I have no quarrel with you, and I hope the best man for the job (whomever that may be) wins the election this year. Good luck to you, and God bless!

Get In The Zone...

The first I had ever heard of the Zone Of The Enders (ZOE) was when I was reading an article about the PS2. It seems that, at the time, Sony had come to the conclusion that developers weren't using the system to it's full potential and so they decided to create a game that really showcased what the PS2 could do. They turned to Hideo Kojima (most famously known for developing the Metal Gear Solid series). Taking inspiration from Japanese Robot/Mech anime, he gave them Zone Of The Enders.

I bought ZOE on the sake of curiosity and was pleasantly surprised. The graphics were amazing, including the real time updating "warning" ring", the responsiveness was almost instantaneous and the action was very fluid. I always have issues with flight mechanics, but after a short stint in the training arena I was flying my Orbital Frame (more on that term later) with no problems. The storyline was interesting, but the main character (being a 10 year old kid) was a bit annoying.  Still, like so many others, I quickly fell in love with the game.

About the story, ZOE takes place in the late 22nd century. Humanity has expanded out to colonize Mars and even has some colonies in orbit around Jupiter. This was done with LEVs (Laborious Extra-orbital Vehicles) and a new metal ore called Metatron. Tensions between Earth & Mars escalate (Anyone born outside of Earth were nicknamed "Enders", hence the title of the game.) and give birth to rebel factions on Mars, most notably BAHRAM, who developed a new type of LEV called Orbital Frames making extensive use of Metatron based tech. The game follows this 10 year old homeless kid named Leo who accidentally discovers the Orbital Frame, Jehuty and bonds with it. There's nothing like a story about a kid and his robot. (Don't believe me? Check out Real Steel!)

Anyway, it turns out that the rebel group BAHRAM had built Jehuty and it's opposite, Anubis (the main villain of the game) as keys to an unstoppable weapon that would destroy the evil Earth minions, free Mars from Earthling tyranny, spread candy bars and twinkies across the galaxy and make everyone have a nice day. As events play out in the game, you find out the real deal about BAHRAM's plans. And then there was the sequel, Zone of The Enders: The 2nd Runner.

When I found out that a sequel was going to be released, I was ecstatic! Not so the gaming critics. It turns out that for the game critic community (and a disturbingly large number of gamers) ZOE was "the free game that came with the $50 demo of Metal Gear Solid 2". (It was a marketing thing, Konami wanted to boost the sales of ZOE. It didn't quite work.) To this day, that line pisses me off. GRRR!!!

Anyway, ZOE2 follows a new pilot, Dingo Egret (I know, the name is dumb. Get over it.) who after an accident finds himself physically BONDED to the orbital frame, Jehuty. You can imagine the fun THAT'S going to be for him! Especially when Leo comes back piloting the Vic Viper, (Yes, it's a Gradius reference. That battle was simply awesome! You never realize how powerful that little 8-bit ship is until you have to fight it yourself!) gunning to get Jehuty back. Since ZOE2 takes place only 2 years after ZOE, Leo is still annoying, but slightly less so. The major note for ZOE2 was that the game made a giant leap forward in tech with the seamless blending of actual anime footage into the gameplay. (Paving the way for games like Catherine.)

At the same time, the producers also released an OVA (original video animation) that would serve as a prequel for the video game series AND a new 26 episode anime series ZOE: Dolories, i. ZOE2 was well received by fans and critics but it was overshadowed by other major titles and didn't really do as well as it could have done.So, after all of that, why am I writing about this? That's simple, my dear readers! In about two weeks, they are going to release the Zone of Enders HD collection!!!

They've updated all the interfaces to HD standards, created brand new opening animations, as well as recreated the original opening animations for HD. This release is for the PS3, Vita and for the first time ever, the Xbox 360! And paving the way for critics to downplay this release, Konami, in it's infinite wisdom, decided to include a demo of Metal Gear Rising: Revengance with this collection. If I hear someone call this "the free HD game that accompanied the $40 Revengance demo" I will rip their heart out and sacrifice it to the Mayan god of corn!!

But I can forgive Konami for this slip up. I can. No really, I can. Why? Because the creator himself, Mr. Hideo Kojima himself said that planning has begun for ANOTHER game in the Zone of The Enders series!!! Granted it's seriously early planning, but it's better than nothing!! Now, I will leave you with a clip of the new opening animation for the HD collection.


So, after watching that, anyone interested in the game?? You better be, Anubis is watching you!