Are Republicans ALL fucking stupid?

Being so frustrated, lately, over the ever worsening condition of healthcare reform in America I posted this on my facebook as my status and gathered these responses:

So, by "Healthcare Reform" What they mean is NO public option but YES enforced buying into private healthcare? Hmm... must remember to look up the definition of "Corporate Fascism."

Le'mon James Flowers:

the national healthcare forces you into the hands of some doctors you dont have the choice to choose ur own, so its another way for the government to control our minds

TolstoyKafkaEvsky:

No, you've got it all wrong. That's just some old republican bunk they were screaming during Regan's time in order to not have Medicare (which is one of the most successful government programs today) What I"M saying is that with no public option we're all being FORCED to BUY PRIVATE HEALTHCARE thereby making a private business something on par with a federal agency. Corporate Fascism.

Ben Runnoe:

hewy tolstoy dumbass u dont read between the lines do you if the governments paying for health care there going to raise taxes on all sorts of shits thats dangerous, can cause cancer, like have six flags be $80 insted of $40 that bag of doritos having $10 tax cause its too fatty and if you eat it ur costing the government money and if you dont believe ur a as dumb as you look

(Continued)

dude ur just an ignorant kid u probly love barrack too. either u dont no what hes doing or your ignorant theres even a part in the bill raising tax on tanning cause it can cause cancer and thats just the start.

TolstoyKafkaEvsky:

Use the word ignorant about 20 more times, maybe it'll make you sound smarter. Doubt it, though. Great, so there's a tax on tanning. Tanning (like smoking) DOES CAUSE CANCER and should be taxed (like smoking.) Higher taxes can be a good thing. The more we're all willing to pay, the safer we can all be with a better trained, more well equipped police force, and the better off our society will be with increased funding for public education. I'm more than willing to allow more money to go to the system if in return they're going to offer us public healthcare. Countries with universal healthcare (and higher taxes) generally have FAR greater standards of living and health than we do here in America, and they also have higher ratings of overall happiness. We only have to ensure that our government actually spends the money on public programs, which shouldn't be too hard for a country of INTELLIGENT people. America, on the other hand, is a whole different story.

Ben Runnoe:

ok you must not know how radical barrack is and they wont improove education they try to keep ppl dumb so theyll vote for democrats because unless your stupid and dont care about freedom not to mention health care is unconstitutional its only goin to cover 30 million ppl so there goin to start putting value human lives = descrimination so if u support u not as smart as i thought


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That is either the clever prods of a very nearly successful troll or the insane rantings of a sincere republican. I'm not sure exactly what to believe. Recently I was watching something pertaining to the politics of our day, and I watched as the right-winger conservatives started to scream and chant their insane, hyperbolic, non-nonsensical narratives about the way the world really isn't...

(Barrack Obama is an Arab)
(Barrack Obama wants to ban all guns)
(Barrack Obama wasn't born in this country)
(Jesus loves war and money)

And after watching for a few minutes, I started to become so disillusioned with the constant level of insanity that these people seem to think with, and I started to sincerely wonder if it's all just a charade. Perhaps they don't honestly believe it, I thought to myself. Maybe this is all just a grand conspiracy to take our eyes and minds off of where they ought to be, by creating a faux ideological war between the left and the right that seems so outrageous it's almost entertaining, and is more like an episode of Dragon Ball Z than a real world conflict between two parties.

Glen Beck: I will power up my crazy-insano-chi technique and use it rule the world! BWUAHAHAH!

*Does that power up thing that looks like translucent fire and an upward draft*

John Stewart: No way, Glen Beck, I'll stop you with my powerful voice of reason, WAAAAHHH!


And the day is saved and we all feel better even though nothing has really changed, and every 12 minutes in this country someone is dying of medical problems that could have been easily cared for if they only lived in a "privileged" country like Saudi Arabia....

How Big IS the Buster Sword?

Officially? 4.5 feet long. If you look at the original drawing of Cloud in the manual of Final Fantasy 7, and you take into consideration that his (canonically) 5 foot, 7 inches, then you have the proper data to confirm just how long the famous Buster sword is. My calculations have TWICE come out to 4.5 feet long. But that seems even HALF reasonable, when you consider who CLOUD is. The Buster sword (although infinitely cool) was silly from the very first time Square tried to get us all to believe that anyone would wield it as a weapon, especially when guns and even LASERS where all acquirable. I always suspected, though, that with the changing times, the creators of the character, his iconic blade and the people behind Final Fantasy have been HAMMING it up, and extending the tip of the sword to even more ridiculous lengths. Recently I got my chance to measure a plastic model version that came with the Cloud action figure I reviewed. After some measurements and quick work with my graphing calculator, I managed to prove that the action figure came with a sword that was approximately .9 feet longer (in theory) than the Buster Sword was originally supposed to be. Here, have a look:

"Deleted Scenes" for the Cloud Action Figure Review

The rest of the footage that I took that day, from the review I did of the Kingdom Hearts Cloud Action Figure review. I'm quite happy with it, however, it's too bad that it needed to be cut for the gayest of rules (the ten minute bullshit.)

New Camera Test Video

It's not common knowledge, but a lot of my viewers are aware that my old "true and blue" camera, the Canon Powershot A540 was entrusted to someone else and then stolen from them, among other things. That camera wasn't even state of the art, but it sure took excellent pictures and movies, despite some big flaws like battery life. Well I started doing research, thinking it was time to upgrade, and replace the old lost camera, and I finally came to a decision with another Powershot. This one is the SD1200 IS model and it's ugh... it's... I dunno...

It SHOULD have 4 more megapixels, however in all of the still photos I've taken there doesn't seem to be any clear superiority in comparison. The 6 megapixel photos seem to be about equal in clarity to the new one... which is quite concerning... But of course what REALLY matter here is the VIDEO capability...

I'm not sure what to think about this. The video stats are just about the same as the last camera, although I think the footage it takes is more grainy. On the upside, I've noticed that the sound quality is actually BETTER than the last one, it has less bass and more of a.... well it just sounds more realistic, I guess. Here's a test video I produced. Try not to cringe too much, because I'm not sure that I'll be returning it before the 90 days is up.

This Post is Dedicated to the Memory of All Freedom Fighters -- Past, Present, and Future...

Read the title of this post. Don't get the reference? I've used those words before. The first time that there was supposed to be a "black out" on youtube I made a reference to the miniseries turned 80's television show "V." I re-read the letter the Jewish grandfather writes in the end of the second movie, and I "spray-painted" the red "V" over top of the youtube logo, in order to make a point.

Tolstoy's Call to War

You can say whatever you want about how silly the video is, I recognize that everyone thinks the internet is not "serious business," but I maintain that showing absolutely NO RESISTANCE to corporate agenda will rarely ever result in positive things. Even now, youtube is probably preparing to change for the worse... again...

For the longest time I've been expressing outrage at Hollywood's constant debasing of original and memorable art. It's not enough to dumb down modern culture, they have to change old artworks as well; make them simpler, and completely change them thematically until they no longer represent anything that they originally stood for. The latest victim of this trend, is sadly Kenneth Johnson's lesser known science fiction series "V."

When I first saw the miniseries, I was probably a little too young to understand any point that the writing was trying to make. It was late at night, and I have this distinct feeling that I had school in the morning. Nevertheless, my brother was flipping through the channels, and my mother was sitting on the couch next to him, and was surprised to see an advertisement on the SciFi channel, promising to air the first movie after the commercials. Mom was instantly stricken with nostalgia, and her description of the story was more than enough to enthrall us, and coax us into staying tuned. I remember being quite taken with it, although I don't remember much of the finer details, and I'm willing to admit that I probably just thought it was "neat-o" because my brother thought it was cool.

For years I had always intended to go back and re-watch the miniseries, with hopes of understanding it better in my adult years. I finally got my opportunity when I had to get all of my wisdom teeth removed surgically. For whatever reason, I decided that while my mouth was healing, I would take the pain medication and watch 80's scifi movies in a marathon. Fortunately, the pain medication made it just bearable. "V" was on the list next to, the Robocop Trilogy and the first and second Terminator movies, among others.

Kenneth Johnson was heavily inspired by one of my favorite authors, who I have heavily quoted through the years. Originally, he wanted to base a television series off of "IT CAN"T HAPPEN HERE," a novel by Sinclair Lewis (not to be confused with Upton Sinclair) about how easily Fascism can rise to power here in America. I'm pretty certain it already had by the 1980's, however, considering how stupid the average American is, NBC decided to water it all down with aliens. Fair enough...

SPOILER ALERT

In the original "V," the aliens were clearly symbolic of fascism. When things first go wrong, they generate a propagandist war on scientists who they proclaim are all in a conspiracy against them. In order to capture and control any and all scientists they create a ghestapo like police force that incorporates human youth, and wears a symbol which is similar to the swastika.




Having just finished watching the first episode of this new celebrated remake I can easily say that I more than disappointed. With the first episode being only an hour, the new writers attempted to compact the plot of the first MINISERIES (about 197 minutes) into about 45 minutes of air time. The rushed way they handled the plot is disgusting enough, and now on top of mediocre writing and piss poor acting, it is MY belief that the show's writers have attempted to re-create Kenneth Johnson's ideas into a political satire of the LEFT WING!

The commentary they use throughout the first episode is pretty blatant, and wasn't hard to spot at all. I am by NO means the fist person to call this new show out as a mouth piece for republican whining. There is a debate on the wiki talk-page, and a myriad of bloggers who have all come to this conclusion.

Allowing me the freedom to comment freely on every one of my suspicions, I would list them as such:

- The aliens won't be interviewed by the media unless they are presented in a positive light. This is probably meant to infer that the "liberal media" never casts democrats negatively, which explains why Obama got into office and all these democrats were elected to public service... yeah... right...

- When the reporter goes through with the interview without asking any hard questions an alien thanks him for doing this and says something like, "It's ok to sacrifice for the collective sometimes." This could be meant to demonize anyone who thinks socially, or isn't a complete RANDROID!

- The "EVIL" aliens at one point use the word "CHANGE" in a way that is far too obvious to not recognize. It's on par with the "cute" Bush reference in the movie "WALL-E" where the all controlling, over-bearing auto-pilot says, "Stay the Course."

- The aliens begin healing people with their advanced technology in ways that it could easily be compared to stem cell research. At one point, a character who was in a wheelchair stands up and walks. But of course, since the technology is ALIEN it must be evil... *SIGH*

- The aliens want to start healing all humans, the world over, and the reporter specifically uses the word, "UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE." Another carefully chosen term, that is far too obvious.

- Another phrase that the supporters of the Aliens use is "Spreading Hope." That one is a little more conspicuous.

- It is suggested that the aliens are being "worshipped" by those who welcome them, in the same way that Obama might have been seen as a savior to some people who didn't want to spend another 4 years with GOP in office. Granted, some people were getting a little too close to becoming "Change Zombies" for my taste, but whatever, the election is over and I cast my ballot.

- Two of the main characters, who get a significant amount of focus (who certainly weren't in the original miniseries) are two priests, who SOME have theorized may become the new focus of the oppression in this new series, instead of scientists the aliens would be oppressing religious people.

- An underground resistance group is started to combat the alien conspiracy, where (unlike in the original) they suggest that the aliens have been creating crises around the world, in order to create and environment that would be far more welcoming to the new "saviors." Terrorism, un-necessary wars, economic collapse, civil unrest all have NOTHING to do with the religiously corrupt and psychotic policies of the Republican part, no, according to the new "V," it's the fault of DEMOCRATS -- *COUGH* Errr... I mean... Aliens... riiiiiggghhhttt

I could be wrong. Right now I feel pretty strongly that this could easily become the next "Battle Star Galactica" the remake of which was extremely popular with conservatives for it's... well... something about it was in support of their ideals, I don't know. Either way, remakes are almost never necessary, and often times RUIN the spirit of the original. This is probably another example of that, I'm not very impressed with anything about it, and I can only hope that this whole thing is just another failed television abortion like every FOX show that they canceled FAMILY GUY for.

The Cult of Plastic Crap

It is MASSIVELY IRONIC that just recently, through means that would not drain my shallow funds, I have come across a few things that would make decent reviews, and the camera that I have been using for years now, has just been stolen. I even felt that I had the motivation to do a review with the same zest that I used to apply to my work, before Youtube became a tyrant. I just can't do any filming with my non-existant camera. To make matters worse, the person in my family charged with replacing the camera isn't listening to reason, and feels that if Canon produced the last camera ANY camera will be good as long as it bears the Canon name. They won't shop ANYWHERE ELSE besides Best Buys, and tried to reassure me by showing me the new camera on Best Buy's website, where the read-out of the camera's stats told me that it (quote)

"Takes brilliant pictures and videos that SOMETIMES have sound"..... fuck....



Regardless of how broke I am, and how very hopeless my hunt for a job is, every weekend my brother quite easily drags me to a myriad of places that are only good for spending money, so that he can look for Transformers, and that I can window shop and think about my life. He always seems to find a "great deal" on something, I always try to postpone my inevitable descent into madness and focus on something trivial like price tags, and all the stores always seem to carry the same old crap. However, every so often something new and interesting, or rare and collectible will grace the shelves of our local Wall-Mart or Toys R Us. If it interests either of us, or is somehow related to an intellectual property that we enjoy, or is thematically consistent with a growing collection of ours, then there is a good possibility it will be bought. Just a few days ago, I was re-watching the BEST movie that Adam Sandler ever starred in, "REIGN OVER ME," where the psychotic behavior of his character Charlie Fineman is described in a very similar sense:

NIGEL: So, what do you do, Charlie?

CHARLIE: I'm a Collector

NIGEL: Really? What do you collect?

CHARLIE: What do I collect? I don't know. Johnson, you can answer for me.

ALLEN JOHNSON: Charlie collects things from his life. You know, things that he finds germane to his lifestyle.

That scene is just a sample of a great piece of, dramatic, cinema, and is one of the more surreal and authentically awkward feeling scenes throughout the whole movie. Charlie is painted up to be a really disturbed person, who ultimately throws violent temper tantrums anytime anyone begins to question him about his lifestyle choices or his past. Either way, I found it a little unnerving that a character that desperately needs help would so closely resemble people like me in any way. Even though Adam Sandler manages to create the insane character in a very charismatic way, I still find it disturbing to identify with him, knowing fully that he's not well.

When my brother and I first started scrounging around the usual places, specifically Toys R Us, they didn't have as many appealing items as they do now. In fact, the frequency of the cool shit on the shelves has gone up drastically in the last few months. Just this afternoon, I was looking at a Doctor Who action figure, and wondering if Nerds haven't actually changed what's being stocked in these stores, just by voting with their wallets in the past few years. Maybe that's just me...

Needless to say, all this crap wants to be bought by me, or rather, I feel the need to buy all this plastic crap. I've always loved action figures and collectibles, and I really have no idea why. It's sort of a small, smoldering passion of mine, like the way I feel when sharpening the edge of a knife and polishing the metal, or smelling the glue on the inside of a book, rubbing my fingers against the print of a comic page, feeling and modeling the fabric of a new hat or coat.

I sort of makes me feel guilty, like I shouldn't be this way. In many societies the world over, there are always negative connotations with feelings of materialistic desires. There's, apparently, something shameful in the desire or love of PHYSICAL THINGS. While a lot of my ideologies, and the philosophies that I admire would AGREE with this statement, I must admit that I have a love of material myself, and that I suspect that I am not the only one, considering the amount of money being generated from the keen art of selling crap you don't even need. It may just be human nature, or it could possibly be the influence of commercials on our minds, even though I try to avoid brainwashing advertisements as often as possible. Either way, I often times feel guilty for participating in rampant consumerism. I used to scoff at people who would buy a shirt that said HOLLISTER on it, and then I looked down and saw that I was wearing a Metal Gear Solid shirt. The only thing I can say in my defense is that wearing a shirt that shows support for a long running video game series which is VERY important to modern artistic and even philosophical thinking is in some way better than wearing a shirt just because it has a brand name on it.

Still, though, there is another thing that bothers me about my habit, which is simply this: I can manage to hold my head up high when it comes to most hobbies. I generally never took any shit from anyone, concerning the unorthodox life that I have lived. For the most part I've worn it as a red badge of courage. But lately, I feel more vulnerable to other people's judgment than I ever have before. It may have something to do with the fact that I have to get a job, and I realize that I stand a much better chance of getting a job if I'm white, have a normal American name, and wear a shirt that doesn't seem "radical" in anyway. All of you out there wearing "Rage Against the Machine" merchandise may want to have a quick wardrobe change before turning in that application to SEARS.

Even though I never felt the need to answer to anyone but myself, I always had a good "fuck you" speech ready for every alternative choice I made in my life. Don't like my FABULOUS fashion sense? You're a homo-phobe. Don't like it that I'm a gamer? You must be an OLD TIMER! What's-a-matter? Think I'm strange for having THAT MANY KNIVES!? Tch, that just shows how USELESS you'll be when the zombie-apocalypse occurs. Hope, you can run fast, motha-fucker, otherwise you're gonna be ZOMBIE-CHOW!

But I find the most difficult hobbie to justify is the "Cult of Plastic Crap." I really don't have ANYWHERE NEAR the number of figures that my brother has. In fact, I've always wanted to make a video showing the COLLOSAL number of Transformers and Halo characters he has IN STORAGE!

I guess it's not easy to justify collecting this stuff, because it's quite easily associated with kids. I recognize that most action figures are aimed at 12 year old boys, and I really don't help my case by OPENING THE BOXES, thereby destroying any "collectors value" they originally had. At best, I can argue three things:

1) I'm not hurting anyone, and YOU"RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!

2) People keep statues in their house and that's considered classy, but if it's made of plastic and articulate then it's not?

3) Cliffy B is one of those really cool nerds and he has an entire transformers corner in his office that he refers to as the "Optimus Prime Shrine." He's way past cool.... right?

Bob Dylan's a Sell-Out (Youtube Outtake)

This was some aborted mess of a video that started when two users on my youtube page (Dunnfield and Stude444) started having a debate on what musical artists have "Sold-Out." I had been doing some research on EARLY and LATE Bob Dylan songs, and at the same time dressing like him:




... So whatever, I tried to make a point in this video, and halfway through decided to just give up.

Did They Do This Before?

Some of you are probably aware of my feelings on the new PSP GO. And if you aren't, suffice it to say, that I'm a little conflicted. It sounded like a good CONCEPT, and I was excited to hear about an update to the PSP lineage, however, I think it looks ugly as sin. That's not really the point of this blog, I guess.

"Unboxings" are a type of video that became popular on the internet for obsessive nerds all over the world. I myself got a huge chunk of my youtube-viewership through the unboxing of at least 2 PSP's. Like most good things on the net, the concept was (and partially is) a COMPLETELY foreign concept to the average Layman-America. I remember trying to explain it to the skater kid that would hang outside the grocery store I worked at. He acted like it was the most odd behavior he'd ever heard of.

Nevertheless, I have never known an unboxing to go beyond the realm of the hobbyist, but recently with the announcement and release of both the coming PSP GO and the PS3 Slim, I've seen "official" unboxings done by people at gaming media companies, who have been given the hardware ahead of time. Right now I have a youtube video pulled up that's of an unboxing done by the fellows at IGN.

It all feels pretty wrong to me. It doesn't feel like I'm really watching a legitimate unboxing video, in the same way that a wedding wouldn't really feel like a proper union of two people if FOX NEWS was reporting on it, or if someone was getting paid to do it. My first objection is that this feels, to me, like another attempt to shift the balance of power from average citizens to corporate entities with corporate mindsets. It's not enough to control the mainstream media, but it would appear that the domination of underground culture is on the agenda as well. In fact, just the other day, I was reading a an article concerning 4chan and the fact that companies feel that new media is less accessible to advertisement agencies. I would wager that they were expressing the notion that they would like that to change.

The other objection I have with this is the potential for corruption. How long ago was it that a video game journalist was fired for giving SOME VIDEOGAME a bad a review? It was either on Gamespot or IGN, I don't really recall, but either way, the game in question had been produced by the same company that was advertising on the site, and it was a big media story (among the inter-webs that is) that the reviewer was fired for giving it a negative score. My point here is that if the first unboxings (which tend to be like "reviews" in nature) are handled by corporations and not the consumers what is to ensure that they won't lie through their teeth to protect the maker of the product. They might, for instance, pick up the new PSP Go and say,

"Oh, it's bloody comfortable to hold." And then, with that advice in mind, you go out to purchase one, only to find out that it feels like a brick in your hand. Granted, this could just be avoided by waiting for joe-shcmoe to do a review of it on youtube, and it's probably not likely that such a huge flaw would be glossed over by IGN, but still, I would rather entrust my views to a video that was "home grown."


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In response to the previous post about "official unboxings and reviews" username: CarnageDissilusion left this comment:

"I believe unboxings and reviews are about opinions rather than stone facts. I would rather John Smith told me the PSPgo was uncomfortable rather than Sony telling me it's comfortable as hell.

I based my purchase of a PSP3000 on TKE's review and some other users..."

This brings an interesting point to mind, concerning the trustworthiness of non-consumer product reviews. I recall that around the same time that I released my review of the PSP 3000, so did a far more prolific website known as CNET. While I attempted to illustrate the now INFAMOUS scan-lines that PLAGUE the 3000 model, CNET didn't seem to think it was something that should be mentioned.

There were over 30 pages of complaints on the official Sony Forums, and even so, Sony sent us all e-mails saying that it wasn't even a problem. Personally, I try to ignore the scan-lines, however, if I had known that it was like this BEFORE I had purchased it, I most likely wouldn't have.

Oh, RIGHT, Because it's a FEATURED VIDEO!

Moments ago, I was tooling around on youtube re-watching some of the older episodes of a really talented internet show by Anthony and Ashley Birch. Some of you may be familiar with the series "Hey Ashley Watcha Playin'?" Anyway, I had just finished one episode, when I wanted to move on to another, so I moved my cursor over to the side bar, where Youtube had placed all of the "related videos," 19 out of 20 of which were OTHER EPISODES CREATED BY ASHLEY AND ANTHONY BIRCH!




What was the 20th video that WASN"T made by those two? A COMPLETELY UNRELATED VLOG by some partner channel, of course.




In response to the mere PRESENCE of this video near the greatness of an episode of HAWP, I left this comment, which I'm sure will be thumbed down to death by her little army of fanboys (can't say I don't employ my own):

"How does THIS count as a related video to an episode of "Hey Ashley Watcha Playin'?" It has NOTHING at all to do with the content of the previous video I was watching, which had ONLY OTHER EPISODES OF THAT SHOW AS RELATED, and neither video contains a congruent TAG so WHY was this video linked to the last? Oh that's right, it's a "featured video" thereby meaning that youtube pushes it regardless of how relevant or talented it is, so that they can build mega-channels that get more ad-revenue."

Now, I'm certain that with a pretty face and a "charming" little accent a girl like this could get attention on the internet almost anywhere. So all I ask is WHY does Youtube need to be BOOSTING her views by placing her in a "related videos" section that she CLEARLY doesn't belong in? This is what username THEREALWEEKLY news was saying in his video entitled "HULU-TUBE" that it would SEEM that Youtube was using certain methods to give some users an advantage over the competition, thereby allowing less "radical users" to gain more views and generate more profit from Youtube from advertisements. Have a look at this link, won't you? AND IN THE NAME OF GOD PAY ATTENTION AT THE 2 MINUTE MARK!

Davidsfarm explains that Youtube is going broke...

Now, I have no reason to believe that Davidsfarm or the newspaper he is quoting is lying to me, and the situation he describes sounds absolutely plausible. Now, were you paying attention to what he said between 2:00 and 2:20? Davidsfarm explained that the newspaper article describes that advertisers don't like to be associated with MANY of the more popular videos on Youtube because they weren't made in Hollywood and lack a professional touch. Were I granted permission to read into this, I would also speculate that the reason Youtube recently promised to DEMOTE video views for "innapropriate content" was because many videos that were popular probably had controversial or counter-cultural material in them, which is something that advertisers wouldn't want to be associated with either (even though we like it.)

To remedy their situation, I propose that Youtube has and will continue to manipulate the views on the videos that they consider to be more neutral and "Californicated" (like Fred) in order to ensure that the new "most popular" videos which will be granted advertisements, won't offend Youtube's source of profit, the advertisers, who have, in essence, already called us all "niggers," by suggesting that what WE find enjoyable (and have produced ourselves) is not WORTHY of pushing their products, unlike the nice, rich white people on television shows like "THE OC" and "CSI."

A lot of people who read opinions like this are tempted to object, saying that Youtube and the advertisers who support them should be allowed to run their business in whichever way they choose. *COUGH* *COUGH* republicans *COUGH* And while, to some degree, I concour, but that's like saying,

"McDonald's doesn't want to place nutritional facts right up there on the WALL because it would make people think twice about eating there, if they could see how much fat and calories is in a single order of anything."

I understand that. I also understand that McDonald's uses inferior food products to create cheaper meals for the consumers, which are more profitable than healthier, quality alternatives. THAT"S WHY I DON"T EAT AT MC"DONALD"S!!!

Considering that I have seen MANY instances of very suspicious activity by the administration on Youtube, all of which only reinforces the idea that Youtube and it's advertisers would rather TELL US WHAT WE WANT WATCH rather than letting us decide, I am only encouraged NOT to want to use Youtube in the first place.

so far I've witnessed and hear reports of:

- Youtube removing videos of Hezbollah firing rockets into Israeli housing

- Youtube REMOVING MULTIPLE USER ACCOUNTS FOR UPLOADING ANTI-SCIENTOLOGIST VIDEOS!!!

- Youtube removing a video review of the game "GTA: Chinatown Wars" for featuring "copyrighted video clips contianing samples of gameplay." That is actually INCREDIBLY unconstitutional, considering that product review is the BIGGEST and most heavily sited example of fair use out there. Funny, the game publishers didn't attack G4 or Gametrailers or Gamespot for using video clips to conduct review of their product, I wonder why SamueltehG33k's video needed to be removed?

- Youtube removing overall views from Davidsfarm's page

- Youtube removing the video ratings from some of the menus so as to avoid blantant corporate come-on videos from being "1-starred-to-death."

- Youtube removing MILLIONS of views from username Butchykid624's account

- Removing videos for inappropriate content that never actually existed

- Youtube attempting to force all of it's users to adopt the beta channel layout, which reportedly, is created so that old videos that generate views more slowly and gradually (like mine or any other cult channel videos) will be phased out a lot quicker. I don't have a link to the video where I originally heard this, but I don't need one. To find out for yourself, just go onto a youtube channel that has that layout and use it to watch a video. Even when you click on that particular video and bring it up onto the page's video player, it does NOT count as a view, thereby ROBBING views from users like Virgin1d4 (my favorite youtuber) who's videos I watch over again. When I watch them on his channel now, he doesn't get any of those views. Hmm, too bad he's autistic (I was told) and likes to talk about video games in a funny accent. I'm sure if he was "normal" and liked to talk about getting boozed and taking hawt girls to the prom Youtube would fucking love him!

Benny's Barking (Youtube Outtake)

Time for a surprise! While I was trying to shoot the last video I uploaded to youtube my dog Benny was barking and although it's not too audible in the video, I could hear it clearly and it was throwing me off and derailing my train of thought. So I excused myself thinking I would return later and finish the video, all in one take, however I soon discovered that the dog was barking at my family who had come home with groceries and they would probably want my help. If you can't understand what I'm saying to discourage Benny from barking, I was hollering the phrases:

"Benny, I'll kills ya!"

"Come here, Benny, Come right here."

and

"Come here Pisuzu," which is a reference to Benny and demon possession, the name Pisuzu being the devil that possessed Regan in the movie "The Exorcist." At least I THINK that's how you spell it.

It's About a Town that Burned Down or Something...

I had a good childhood... it was perfect, actually... There are so many things that I miss from back then, for instance, how easily I frightened. These days I'm not really scared by anything, nothing fictional anyway, but when I was a lad, every horror movie was un-see-able, every eerie novel was forbidden, every ghost story told by the camp fire was so mysterious and beyond understanding. Rumors of haunted classrooms stayed with me for weeks, dark hallways gave me the willies, and no spooky tale ever held an ending that was foreseeable, it was always unexplainable and felt chillingly real to me. In fact, when I was 4 or 5 years old there was a video rental store less than a mile from my house, where I would wander around the horror section, looking at the box art on the VHS copies of "Friday the 13nth" and "Silence of the Lambs." Just by looking at those boxes I got scared even imagining what the art could possibly symbolize. These days however, we're all a little more desensitized.... Damn...

Either way, one of my fonder memories was of a commercial for a video game that left me shaken and curious beyond all means as to what the game was about. I was 8 or 9 years old then, and the commercial was for the infamous "Silent Hill." I've searched for the commercial, casually, over the internet, but I still can't seem to find that particular one. I'm not even sure it was the ORIGINAL game and not one of it's sequels, but then again, I was fairly young the original came out in 99, so that would lead me to believe it was. However, I don't remember the twisted imagery as much as the voice over (don't misread me, though, the imagery still made me shiver) All I remember was a girl's (or woman's) voice saying something like,

"I'm going to Silent Hill. You were there before. You told me never go to Silent Hill, but I went there anyway *Balalaika in the background going tickilickalickalicka*"

Regardless of which game it was, I was pretty certain I wouldn't be able to unravel this "mystery" myself, given that I wasn't all that good at games back then, I mostly just watched my bigger brother play, and even so, I wondered if I would be too terrified to beat such a nightmare. Still, I had to know. I went to school and almost immediately some of the kids where talking about it. I wasn't very popular (infamous is a better word for it) but all the kids there could easily relate to my curiosity surrounding the horror game that we had all seen the commercial for. (The advertisement must have been playing during SOME sort of kids programming, otherwise we probably wouldn't have watched it) Some of the kids reported to have played it, but were immediately called out, since they didn't know anything about it. Some proclaimed that they had older cousins or siblings that HAD played it, but the most that we ever got from them was,

"It's about a town that caught fire or something...."

Last Christmas my brother bought for me a copy of "Silent Hill: Homecoming." Mind you, at this point I understood a little more about the games than your average frat-monkey, and I had learned to eat popcorn and giggle while watching SAW IV. (Does that make me sick?) With casual interest, I had watched the review on Gametrailers.com, and I can't say that I would have bought it with my own money. But this was a gift, and I have to admit that I had been itching for a new game to play.

Ok ready? This is your reward for READING THIS FAR! Here's a video I made out of frustration after getting stuck SEVERELY and for poor reasons while playing this game. I never released it until now:








Yeah, that puzzle... my, my, my. Don't be mislead by the video, I still enjoyed playing the game. I actually wrote a review of it on Gametrailers, just for the hell of it. Unfortunately, Gametrailers is also changing it's website for the worst, and through the power of bad coding found a way to HIDE people's hand written reviews on the site, probably in an effort to divert more attention to the site's video reviews, from which they generate more profit. I was forced to run a google search, and luckily it came up:

http://www.gametrailers.com/users/TolstoyKafkaEvsky/gamepad/?action=viewreview&id=51794

In that particular review, though, I couldn't describe EVERYTHING that made me love that game, and I think the biggest reason why I was so impressed was simply because I had low expectations to begin with. For a long time I've theorized that the secret to enjoying video games (among other things) is partially to be very pessimistic when beginning, and then when the game SURPASSES your expectations you feel you were better off for the experience. Also, the other thing I was craving for at the time that this game satisfied so well was the feeling of the "Zombie Apocalypse Scenario." Silent Hill: Homecoming had a similar flavor to the movie "I AM LEGEND," which also helped to fulfill people's desire to be "The Last Man Left." Don't ask me why, but I am pretty certain that there are many people out there who are still praying for the zombie invasion (or the less cliche' equivalent of that) perhaps because we feel that it would give us all a chance to improve our lives in a very strange way. If that sounds preposterous then I propose that one should watch the episode of Futurama where they describe an evil Santa-bot (played by John Goodman) goes on a merciless rampage every Christmas, and through their collective fear of becoming victims, it causes everyone to reach out for each other, and comfort one another. As if, such a catastrophe would somehow re-humanize us, allow us to go back to a more primal place, and destroy the bland, inhuman, corporate society that is in place now......

I said SOME people might want that, not necessarily me... just stop starring, alright!?

Anyway, after the game was over, I felt that I would definitely need another experience very similar to that. After a little research, I decided to go out and purchase "Silent Hill 3," vaguely recalling the positive X-Play review of the game, as I walked up to the counter and forked over my debit card. The bad camera angles and clunky "TANK controls" didn't bother me at all, for some reason I've always felt quite at home while playing games like that, and of course the oldest excuse for building horror games in that fashion is proposedly because:

"It makes the prospect of combat or fleeing more terrifying."

In fact, after playing Silent Hill 3 (and finding it unsatisfactory) I became enthralled for a few weeks with my old Playstation 1 copy of "Dino Crisis." The whole experience got me saying,

"They just don't make games like this anymore." And miraculously it didn't make me feel old at all to say that.

As I was saying, after the first few chapters of "Silent Hill 3" I stopped playing. Originally, I tried to prepare myself for the shift I would inevitably feel between the American approach to horror and the Japanese technique, however it was to no avail. In a cutting statement against the game, I once compared the experience of "Silent Hill 3" to:

"Walking around a grimy hotel, while off-putting music plays, trying all the handles on the doors to see which one's were open, while casually trying to avoid hideously disfigured beggars who are obviously on some form of narcotics."

Doesn't exactly sound like the ideal horror experience to me. Months later (a few days ago) I ran out of any other video games to play, and out of desperation I moved my PS2 downstairs, turned off all the lights, snuggled Benny up beside me, and loaded in "Silent Hill 3." I began playing from where I had left off, having pretty much the same dull experience as before. But I kept playing this time, and for some miraculous reason the quality of the game seemed to improve. Perhaps it was because for all those months I had not played the game, and had been thinking poorly of it, and as I said before, this set the standards of what I was expecting quite low, and therefore, easy to surpass.

Just last night I finished the game, and in the end, the voice acting got better, the environment felt slightly less tired, the story actually fulfilled promises of coherency, and I felt something akin to satisfaction. My only complaint is that the ending boss wasn't anything like what I was expecting, and could only be described as slightly anti-climactic.

My collective experience in Silent Hill games has left me with a desire to make some sort of cinematic "credit" to the series, a short skirt of film, something that could replicate the feeling in film. I recognize that they've already made a movie (and greenlit the sequel) but that's not exactly what I meant. Try as they might can Hollywood REALLY recapture the elusive notion of Silent Hill? Well, I suppose that's up to interpretation.

What'd'fuck's up with Collard Shirts?

A few weeks ago I read a very worth-while web-comic by prominent Furry artist Jay Naylor. If you're not familiar with his work, he draws anthropomorphic animal-people normally having sex and discussing life, love, and Ayn Rand-ian philosophy like the psychopathic mouth pieces his characters are. Regardless of his republican nonsense, though, "Better Days" is STILL a very good work, which I found absolutely engaging, for it's novel story, endearing art style, and original characters, who I got to watch grow up in front of my eyes, in the course of 2 days (which is how long it took me to casually read through all 24 chapters.) Even if I don't subscribe to half of his objectivist bullshit I still tried to entertain some of the values that I read about, and I fear that perhaps I might have taken too much of it all to heart. Here's one page in particular that I took offense at, but somehow ended up letting it effect me too much:


The older people in my family used to nag me about not wearing collard shirts. They would tell me that I looked silly wearing shirts with band logo's on them. Before now it never really bothered me, but in the recent months I've been feeling like a change of wardrobe might be nice, and I guess this sort of encouraged me in my mind to go through with it. It's not like I would LOOSE all my old Metal Gear Solid shirts if I wore some "nice" shirts now and again. Plus a little conformity might help me get a job sooner rather than later. Unfortunately whenever it comes to clothes (specifically shoes, and I guess, collard shirts) finding a good fit isn't easy.





This is me in a new collard shirt that I bought from a prominently black store in the city (don't look at me like that, their style is a little bit different from the stuff that's offered in Sears or Macy's...) Anyway, it's a medium, it fits well in the shoulders (which for some reason is a problem with me, I don't really look like I have broad shoulders, but it always feels like coats and shirts are squeezing me there.) So it's a good buy right? Wait... what's this?...



THERE"S ENOUGH ROOM IN THE GUT FOR A COUPLE OF FAT GUYS TO JOIN ME!!!

Seriously, this isn't just me, believe it or not, I was flabber-gasted enough to look up OTHER BLOGS where other guys talk about how hard it is to find a shirt that fits FOR THE EXACT SAME REASON! One guy said that it felt like they were making shirts so that we could all carry inflated beach balls in the gut...

Is this the new style? No, really, it sounds psychotic, but recently I've read TWO articles about "style" that say that the new hip (supposedly) is guys with a gut..... no really, that's what I read. There was a study done in London where women reported that they associated fit muscular stomachs with HOMOSEXUALITY and a little fat around the middle as a sign of masculinity and an "experienced man." *SIGH*... what the fuck? Coudn't they have ENACTED this new "style" BEFORE I LOST 70 POUNDS!? And either way, there are LOADS of stores that sell dresses to STICK-GIRL why can't I get a shirt that contours to me side a little? Oh well, I think the shirt looks ok with my coats and stuff. Maybe it's not so bad.

PS3 Problems (Re-Run)

This is a video that I did for another website a few seasons ago, detailing the visual problem that I seem to have with either my television or my Playstation 3. I also list some of the steps that I have taken to rectify the problem, and I throw myself upon the mercy of techno-geeks everywhere, for I am but a mortal man, who cannot understand what is going wrong while I'm trying to play video games.





I feel rather paranoid whenever I watch this particular video, because this actually features 2 film clips taken at two separate times, in between which I gained a small amount of weight, after deciding that a 900 calorie per day diet was a little excessive. Needless to say, I'm terrified that someone will point out that I've become a helpless fatty... *SNIFF* I suppose I should be off to go PURGE! *VOMITS INTO SINK* Ok, that MAY seem in poor taste, but in reality, I don't have an eating disorder (I hope) and I OBVIOUSLY recognize that someone who is THAT obsessed with looking thin has a mental disorder.

Ok... Here Goes...

This is the first post I've made on this new blog. This is actually just a test, so if you're reading this, well.... I dunno, but stop it... I mean it... STOP... That's it I'm telling on you...

Ok, let's see... can this thing display video? I mean, Blogspot SAYS you can, but let's see them do it. Uploading test video.... nnnnn-NOW!!





That was a little ditty that was invented for me by one of my fans on youtube. I only used a part of it and only for a little while, but either way, I was pretty flattered that someone offered. The guy who produced it, asked if I would credit him as "Ruben and the Novelty Shack." Kinda funny... anyway, I'm crossing my fingers, knocking on wood, and doing all of those other crazy superstitious things that you do whenever you want something to work.