Decade in Review

Awesome technology became awesomer

Remember where technology was at in the 90s?



I can't even describe the excitement I felt the first time we got a type of internet where you were online ALL THE TIME. And your parents wouldn't yell at you for making the phone line busy for 20 hours a day! Stories like this will entertain our grandchildren. How did we live?

Just sit and think for a moment about how much technology has advanced in only ten years. Go ahead and watch a bit of this. Then watch this. Yeah.

And remember your old phone back in high school? You know, the Game Boy with the neon backlight? Now we have this.



It's truly a wonderful world we live in.

Video Games as Art


Video games were already art before, but they really hit their stride in the last few years.


Still not convinced? Here, watch some beautiful trailers.







Art. The end.

A few years ago, Roger Ebert wrote that video games could never be art. This pissed off a lot of people, so he retracted his statement. They couldn't be considered high art, on the level of films or literature. His reasons: Video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control.

Ah, I see he's never played a video game before.

Music

Is it just me, or is this decade completely lacking bands to define it? Music seems to be splitting apart right now. Horrible music keeps getting worse and more popular, while good music keeps getting better and harder to find.

Take a listen to this.



Now listen to this.



I can't believe Franz Ferdinand and Leonard Cohen were playing across the street, and all those people went to see Green Day.

I just don't understand. Green Day and Year Long Disaster (first vid) don't even compare. Have you ever heard of Year Long Disaster? Yeah, me neither until recently. And yet, they're the ones who are good. By all rights, they're the ones who should be known. Green Day fucking sucks, but for some reasons they're the guys getting paid. They're all 37, by the way. They're 37 year old men dressed like teenagers at Hot Topic.

And why do all the cool bands seem to be obsessed with social commentary? I don't care. If I wanted to be exposed to opinions and ideas, I'll pick up a fucking book like a grown up. You know how the Beatles pulled it off? They were geniuses. They read a fuckton of literature and traveled the world. They knew what they were doing. These guys just seem like that one dude at the party who pretends to be interesting by complaining about meaningless shit. "They should do something about something, guys! Yeah!"

And I'm not one of those "they used to be decent before they sold out" people. No. They have always sucked. Blame it on my hatred for their genre - often mistaken as "punk," while they really sound nothing at all like real punk bands who actually possessed testicles. I just call it "whiny teen rock." It is the most unoriginal and generic form of rock I have ever listened to. It's just power chord, power chord, power chord, power chord, listen to me I have an opinion, did I mention I'm in a band? I know I have readers of this blog who are fans of Green Day, I'm not trying to bash only them, they just seem to be on the forefront of all the type of music I hate - Sum 41, Blink 182, Good Charotte, The Offspring (I used to be a big Offspring fan, I'm a little ashamed to admit). They're all the exact same fucking band. DOESN'T ANYONE ELSE NOTICE THIS I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS.

War and Torture
If this decade could only be known for a single thing, it would probably be the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After 9/11, we decided to invade Afghanistan to oust the Taliban from the government, who were directly supporting Al Qaeda. Then out of fucking nowhere, we invaded Iraq. Every single reason why we went in turned out to be shit, but we stayed anyway. And stayed. And stayed. And stayed. And stayed. Neither Afghanistan nor Iraq seem to have any clear goals at the moment, other than "we should get out... eventually!" These wars are so awesome, they should never end!

And then Abu Ghraib happened. Everyone up top pinned everything on the soldiers, despite their own lax policy called "we'll just look the other way, don't do anything crazy now, wink wink nudge nudge." Everyone on the planet was shocked and disgusted. Well, all except for the conservatives in America, who either downplayed its brutality, or downright defended it. To beat the terrorists, America had to become... a rapist.

No, really. Obama still refuses to release all of the Abu Ghraib photos, presumably because of the rumored rape.



The Death of Television

Television has arguably been "dead" since its invention, but there has at least been good shows thrown in with the the mix. How many truly memorable shows did we get out of this decade? Four? Five? Meanwhile, shit like this is fucking all over the place.



WOW I DIDN'T KNOW UGLY PEOPLE WERE CAPABLE OF HAVING TALENT, THIS SURPRISES AND AMAZES ME

Television stations refuse to take chances anymore. They rubber stamp all their shows in coordination with their target demographics. They keep making the exact same shows over and over again, and then they act surprised when they get canceled. This is why FX is possibly the best channel on television. The people on The Shield commentaries are constantly thanking the execs at FX for always sticking with them despite the risks. The Shield ended up being the greatest show in the history of television. FX stuck with Kurt Sutter, even after the crummy ratings Sons of Anarchy got out of the gate. Near the closing of the second season, it shocked everyone by beating nearly every other scripted show in its time slot. And don't even get me started on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The pilot submitted to FX was nothing but three guys with a video camera. What FX got was the goddamned funniest show since Arrested Development. Which was canceled.



Pluto is no longer a planet



In 2006, some sciency people got together and declared that Pluto should be classified as a dwarf planet, rather than a planet. There is another dwarf planet in our solar system bigger than Pluto. It's called Eris. Earth's moon is bigger than Pluto. It seems that classifying Pluto as a planet in the first place was a mistake, and this was a logical decision that made perfect sense.

NOPE.

The general public, 95% of which is scientifically illiterate (real statistic) did what it always does, and conjured up an opinion without bothering to get informed first. Useless online petitions popped up everywhere. The Illinois State Senate passed a resolution this year making Pluto a planet again... as long as it's in Illinois?

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that as Pluto passes overhead through Illinois’ night skies, that it be reestablished with full planetary status, and that March 13, 2009 be declared “Pluto Day” in the State of Illinois in honor of the date its discovery was announced in 1930.

I don't even know why I bother voting.

Popularization of science and skepticism

Despite shortcomings like this, you can't honestly say that popular science isn't doing well right now. DVD sales for shows like Planet Earth and The Universe are doing fantastic. Mythbusters is one of the highest rated shows on TV. Penn and Teller's Bullshit is a hit, and it was what originally introduced me to the skeptic community. I first heard of the demigods James Randi and Michael Shermer through Bullshit. Personally, I'm meeting a lot less people than I used to who believe in bullshit pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. Maybe it's just because I try to separate myself from dumb people now. I don't know. This is all based around personal experience, so I don't know if it's the same for everyone.

The point is that there are a lot more people who are accepting science. Not everyone understands most of it (I'm in this group), but they know enough about how the scientific method works to trust it. Not too long ago, there almost seemed to be this angry backlash against science and scientists - they think they're so smart, they can't explain everything, natural remedies and prayer work so much better for you because medicine has never solved anything ever. That baseless hatred is still there, as it always will be, but it certainly doesn't seem to be as bad as it once was.

Our generation is turning out to be pretty fucking awesome

People our age are much more accepting of people who aren't like us. Hobbies that were once not considered socially acceptable are now socially acceptable. Watch any 80s movie. Actually, just watch this.



Yeah, that's right. Nerds are suddenly cool now. Everyone plays video games. Everyone has a dorky hobby. No one is going to beat you up for being obsessed with computers anymore, because they need you to help fix their computer.

This mutual kindness doesn't only apply to social labels. Our generation is much less racist, sexist, and homophobic than our parents and grandparents were.

And we're smart. We care about what's happening in the world. And unlike our hippie parents, we care about what's happening in the world and we're somewhat informed. I believe we have this man to thank - our voice.

Decade in Review - 2005

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I don't know if Jon Stewart shaped us, or we shaped Jon Stewart, but to most people our age, watching this guy is like looking into a mirror. We have no cause. We're not the hippie generation, or the grunge generation. We're the generation that refuses to grow up. We just sit back and make fun of everything. But who can really blame us with a childhood full of Nicktoons, Bill Nye, and Super Nintendo? We grew up in a fun world, and we don't want it to change.



The future holds:

Nothing. The History Channel says the world is going to end in 2012, so who are we to disagree? It's been a nice run, see you all in hell.

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Monday Youtube Post

Forgot about this yesterday. This is from a new show on BBC called The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret. Will Arnett and David Cross. I don't even need to say anything else.

Excelsior!

Keeping my promise of the comic I'll be working on in my free time, I've gotten a hold of two books to help me out.



Vanishing Point is all about drawing backgrounds (environments) that don't suck. It's all based on this widely-taught idea that all objects and elements within the artwork point back towards one (or multiple) vanishing point(s) on an imaginary horizon(s). It's basically how to draw things in perspective. The technique was actually a well kept secret among all the great Renaissance artists. It was a secret, because if everyone knew about it, then everyone would be good artists and they'd have more competition.

It really does make drawing a lot easier. Everything is based off angles and maybe a little mathematics, almost in a way similar to architecture. Some of the "art" almost seems to be taken out, replaced by a method to obey. Which is good, because then people might think you're actually a good artist.


I was flipping around the more advanced techniques. It shows how to draw within a fisheye lens, so that everything's curvature remains proportional. To draw a car, the dude basically sketched out a three-dimensional grid on the page, with vanishing points going off all over the fucking place. It's a really good book.

And then I also got this


I know, I know, it looks corny, but it's apparently a classic must-have for any beginning comic artist. It's co written by Stan Lee himself -- the creator of Spiderman, The Hulk, The X-Men, and basically half of Marvel's lineup. I love what he put at the end of the introduction.


It pretty much covers everything, even some of the perspective stuff the other book goes more into. But what I'm most interested in is the correct way to draw the human form. We had a nude model come in at the end of my drawing class this semester, and we spent a class period drawing quick, 10-20 minute sketches of different poses. That probably helped me out more than I know. I'm fairly satisfied with some of the sketches I got out of it. But I'm still clumsy and confused on a lot of things (odd perspectives and action poses, mostly), and this book covers that.


Additionally, I asked for yet another book for Christmas which specifically focuses on the human body. So I think I'm set. I've started on the script, and some of the ideas I got floating around I think are pretty neat. I hope this doesn't suck and I end up embarrassing myself.

This reminds of the days back in grade school when I would buy books like these (HOW TO DRAW AWESOME MONSTERS), make comics about the adventures of my dog Lou and Andy Nelson's dog Spuds, and I would tell myself I wanted to be a cartoonist. This is all just a euphoria thing to me, really.

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This is Neville Chamberlain.


Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the dawn of World War II. He had a policy of "appeasement" towards Hitler, basically meaning he sucked Hitler's dick to avoid World War II. His reputation nowadays is mixed. On the one hand he was a real shithead for giving Hitler everything he wanted, but on the other, you really can't blame the poor guy for doing everything in his power to avoid another world war that everyone saw on the horizon, and which everyone knew was going to be even more catastrophic than the first. Who the fuck wouldn't try to prevent that from happening? We know in retrospect that it was a shitty policy, but no one at the time knew what was going to happen. His popularity rating shot up to fucking 68% after his deal with Hitler at Munich. Nobody wanted another fucking war.

Chamberlain's policy ultimately failed, as Hitler never really gave a shit about how much he got, and he was just going to invade shit whether people liked it or not. Chamberlain resigned in shame, paving the way for the indescribable badass known only as Churchill. Chamberlain would go down in history as the world's biggest pussy.

If there's one thing conservatives nowadays love doing, it's comparing modern day things to history they know nothing about. I've heard Mitt Romney say "We were the party of the revolution." I've heard Rush Limbaugh compare Afghanistan and Iraq to World War II, almost as if these wars are comparable in any god damn way. You see teabaggers all the time trying to convince themselves that The Founding Fathers (tm) would be on their side, by taking their quotes out of context and citing a Constitution they've never actually bothered to read.

And then there's this clip right here. I don't know how I've missed this for so long, but I just came across it. This was a year and a half ago. This man says Barack Obama is going to appease the terrorists, and then compares him to Neville Chamberlain. When Chris Matthews asks him what Neville Chamberlain actually did, he can't answer the question. After stammering uncontrollably for a couple minutes, he just flatout admits "I don't know." It's some of the most hilarious shit I've ever seen.



Some people are interested in politics because they genuinely care about what's happening in the world. I just like watching car wrecks.

[Day of the week] Music Post - The Kills

I don't know if it's a new thing or I'm just paying attention finally (or I just really like blues rock), but there are a lot of pretty mindblowing duos recently (The Black Keys, Left Lane Cruiser, or The Black Diamond Heavies). And there needs to be more. They all just fucking got it. I don't know what it is. I guess with less people, there's more of a chance for similar creative tastes, less clashes, less drama, and so forth. It works. Bands can be hard to maintain.

My brother told me about The Kills last night. They kinda remind me of the Gorillaz, except they've been introduced to a little concept called rockage. Their first CD came out in 2003, and I'm really surprised it took me this long to hear about them. They fucking rock. How long do you think it's gonna be until I stop making fun of hipsters, and become one? Fuck.

Some college paper in Kansas ran a five-piece story about the relationship between the Christian church and the gay community. The first two articles focus on a gay man who was raised in an insane religious family. His father beat the shit out of him and sent him into the emergency room countless times, he was forced into electroshock therapy and tortured, and he very nearly committed suicide. The remaining three focus on different perspectives on homosexuality within the church.

Part 1: Student recounts painful conversion therapy, abuse

As the man turned on the electricity, the pain was so horrible, Swanson still cannot understand why his mother sat in the lobby and did not race to rescue him as he screamed.

All types of adult images were portrayed on the screen during the electric-shock sessions. The therapist spoke very rarely but with emphasis.

“I block out a lot of things, but I remember him saying, ‘this is evil,’ the first time I saw a picture of a man and a man in bed together. I’ll never forget that one,” Swanson said.

While recounting his electric-shock therapy Swanson stares ahead in a haze. He repeatedly adjusts his pant legs and shifts in his chair.

Part 2: Student finds sympathy, understanding at K-State through ‘untherapy’

Fritch told him there were other gay people in the world and the government was not eradicating homosexuals, like his parents had told him.

Swanson said he began to “freak out.” This revelation devastated him: All the people he had lived with and put his trust in had lied his entire life.

Swanson said Fritch was shocked that he believed he had AIDS.

Swanson said he began going through “un-therapy, going through all these stages, literally going through mental and physical, in reverse.”

Through patience and understanding, Swanson said the gay community helped him understand that being gay was OK.

He said he feels he still has a lot of “un-therapy” to go through.

“I’ve never dated in the gay direction because I always wonder how the therapy will come back up,” Swanson said. “Because every single time there is a major victory, I’m still having the nightmares.”

Swanson expects the effects of his therapy to haunt him for life.

“I’ve literally had licensed psychologists say, ‘You need to repress this. This is so damaging we have no idea how you’ve gotten through this. This is not to be dealt with,’” he said.

Part 3: Local church offers ministry for gay community

Homosexuality and sexual brokenness [being homosexual] are issues that are clear to the church, Kluttz said, adding that people who are homosexual would not be operating as their “true self, not the way God created them to function.”

Dusty Garner, senior in political science, said he believes he functions as he should and is not surprised Manhattan has a local “reparative therapy” counseling program. He is a leader in the local community for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and intersex people.

Garner said he routinely hears of churches offering programs to “fix” those born with a same-sex orientation. He said LGBTQI issues are especially tough for young adults who are raised in a conservative or religious area like Kansas.

“I think that when you are young and impressionable, you’re raised in your religion generally because that is what your family has practiced,” Garner said. “If your family is telling you what you are doing is wrong, then you’re left with these deep inner conflicts that make you inherently feel like less of a person.”

Part 4: Church leader argues people choose sexuality

“Biblically, where I stand, I think inside there is a place where we know it’s just unnatural, and an unnatural way to live,” Kluttz said. “I think that people want out. They just feel like this is not OK. ‘I’m not OK, this is wrong.’”

She said the Living Waters program had two participants who were seeking help resisting homosexuality, and since their completion of the program they continue to struggle.

While Living Waters uses a group-based counseling system, conversion and reparative therapy programs often use more aggressive measures to change a person’s orientation. These programs cite research conducted by Robert L. Spitzer, who has purportedly provided scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.

Spitzer, a retired psychiatry professor at Columbia University, was hailed as an ally to the gay community when he assisted in the 1973 removal of homosexuality from the psychiatric manual of mental disorders. In 2003, Spitzer lost that status when he published results of a 16-month study reflecting homosexual orientation could be changed with therapy.

Eleven percent of the men and 37 percent of the women in Spitzer’s study reported a complete reorientation from homosexual to heterosexual after the 16-month study.

The APA does not recognize Spitzer’s research as legitimate because it does not follow the scientific method of a study, said Clinton Anderson, associate executive director and director of the LGBT concerns office for the American Psychological Association.

Part 5: Local church welcomes gay community

(Or perhaps: Local Church teaches from the Bible)

“I don’t think it’s appropriate because it makes an assumption that there is something wrong with someone that has to be fixed,” said Rev. R. Kent Cormack, pastor and teacher at First Congregational United Church of Christ.

Cormack, who is openly gay and in a same sex-marriage with the church organist, has been a pastor at First Congregational since 2000. He said his church performs same-sex marriages and encourages its congregation to recognize these unions.

Cormack said not all churches share the view First Congregational holds, but he takes great pride in his church’s history of welcoming Christians of all sexual orientations, genders and races.

He said his church was specifically formed in Manhattan to support abolitionism, and he likes to think his congregation is on the forefront of people’s individual liberty.

[...]

As a nonreligious leader, Garner said he believes religious texts have good morals, meanings and intentions, but have a long-lasting effect when they are used against somebody to hurt them. He acknowledged there is a large LGBTQI community in churches, but in general the LGBTQI community, especially in the United States, has turned its back on religion because of negative experiences.

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For the longest time, I thought Conservapedia was a joke site. Who the hell says Wikipedia is liberally biased? Who the hell says the Bible is too liberal, and it needs to be re-translated? It just couldn't be real. No one is that dumb. Stephen Colbert proved me wrong. He interviewed Andy Schlafly this week, founder of Conservapedia. Stephen seemed dangerously close to breaking character at times. I forgive him.

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Their entry on liberal is pretty funny.

A liberal (also leftist) is someone who rejects logical and biblical standards, often for self-centered reasons. There are no coherent liberal standards; often a liberal is merely someone who craves attention, and who uses many words to say nothing.

MY LIFE IS A LIE.

When Adam Carolla feels like giving his opinion, it's either hit or miss. I've heard him go on a ten minute rant about how superior men are to women, and I've heard him excuse Japanese internment during World War II ('we were just scared'). Sometimes, though... sometimes he really nails it.

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

WAR ON CHRISTMAS TIME, CHOO CHOOOOOOOO



And no one knows better about the topic than Bill O'Reilly's expert panel of sexy blonde chicks.

"Why does the American Humanist Society want us to be 'good for goodness sake'? Why do they loathe the baby Jesus? He's just a baby."

"Because they see a movement brewing. Have you looked at the polls recently? More and more Americans are atheists or agnostic and they're seeing that growing movement and they're getting right on the bandwaggon."

"You don't sell atheism by running down a baby, do ya? You don't sell atheism by running down a baby. It's just a baby."

STOP EATING THE BABIES YOU FUCKING ATHEISTS



You just know O'Reilly's trying to pull shit with them behind the camera.

I like how every persecuting group out there likes to pretend they're the ones being persecuted. Atheists threaten violence over Christian billboards until they're taken down and bring criminals charges against Christians simply for being Christian, like all the fucking time.

The daughter of Chester Smalkowski wanted to play basketball for the Hardesty Public Schools. She was forced from the team when she, an Atheist, refused to recite the Lord’s Prayer after a game as was required by the school. When the Smalkowski family complained about this unconstitutional practice, she was suspended. Further complaints resulted in criminal charges being brought against her father.

Chester Smalkowski refused to submit to a request from the District Attorney to move his family out of the County in exchange for the charges being dropped. His case went to trial last month, and he was acquitted of all charges by a jury. The Smalkowski children have been threatened and subjected to discrimination for the daughter’s refusal to participate in the prayer recitation.

Merry Christmas!

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I would do this in a heartbeat. But only if I could listen to that music on the way down. Something has to distract me from my lost bowel control.



"After 20 years, you analyze a lot. You remember people, heroism. Many people come up to me and say that had they been there, they surely would have died. But it makes no sense, because until you're in a situation like that, you have no idea how you'd behave. To be affronted by solitude without decadence or a single material thing to prostitute it elevates you to a spiritual plane, where I felt the presence of God. Now, there's the God they taught about me about at school. And there is the God that's hidden by what surrounds us in this civilization. That's the God I met. "

[Day of the week] Music Post - Explosions in the Sky

I had vaguely heard of Explosions in the Sky before, but then I started noticing that Last.fm kept recommending them to me, so I finally decided to check them out. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.

They're basically post-rock, but they don't like to be called post rock. They just consider themselves a normal rock band, only with no singer.





:orgasm:

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Dragon Age

I beat Dragon Age the other day. At first I felt Dragon Age topped Mass Effect, but that was really just the euphoria talking. I'm still in the Mass Effect camp really only because of the genre. Since sci-fi is simply fantasy for people who aren't faggots, the choice was pretty clear.

For some reason, I can't take screenshots in the game. It just won't let me. Nothing shows up in the folder they're supposed to go into. There were a lot of great moments I really wanted to capture, like the time that dragon was trying to shake me off of its head before I was able to drive my sword through its fucking skull, for example.

Luckily for me, the game takes screenshots automatically at notable parts throughout the game, usually during cutscenes. I would like to share my journey with you. Minor spoilers follow (nothing big) so if you're planning on playing this and you want to be completely surprised, just don't read the descriptions. As always, click on the images to view the bigger size. FANTASY. CAST MAGIC MISSILE.

You're able to choose whether you want to be a human, a dwarf, or an elf. I wanted the epic dwarven beard, but I didn't want to be a stupid midget dwarf.

First time meeting Morrigan, the "hot slut" romance option. You can bang her pretty quick.

Leliana, the "sweetheart" romance option. You meet her in the cliche bar fight. You have to work her for a pretty long time before she agrees to fuck you, and even then, there's a glitch that players have dubbed "friend zone" where it's possible to miss out on the opportunity altogether. You're able to sleep with both Morrigan and Leliana at the same time behind their backs, and it starts up all sorts of awesome drama. You can also bang a bisexual elf dude, but I slit his throat when I first met him because he tried to assassinate me.

Alistair, the comrade. He's a quirky badass with a heart of gold. He's the romance option for female characters. My friend Molly is swooning pretty hard over him.

My pet war dog's name is Poindexter.

I found this guy outside of a village in a cage. He was sentenced to remain there and be devoured by the Darkspawn. I could've tried to convince the Chantry to free him so he could join me, but he slaughtered an entire family, and I decided a slow and painful death would be better suited for him.

This boy was possessed by a demon. In his free time, he decided to send down hordes of zombies into his village every night.

The Urn of Sacred Ashes, containing the ashes of Andastre. Imagine if you came across the ashes of Jesus. And Jesus was the literal son of god (I know I know, just play along). That's how big of a deal this is.

Fighting on behalf of Lord Harrowmont in the Dwarven Proving.

The soul of a Dwarven hero, trapped in an iron golem for centuries. I could've had myself a golem army to fight the Darkspawn horde, but I was trying to be somewhat good, so I decided to let him have the death he wanted instead.

I'm not describing the context of this image because I think it's funnier without it.

I actually just started a new game. I'm the guy in the middle. I'm going to be the bloodiest blood mage ever. Blood magic is outlawed. I'm trying to be the most insane lunatic the game will allow me to be. For example, this is something similar to a conversation we had when we came across a dying soldier in need of medical care.

Me: We don't have time for this.

Alistair: "We don't have time? What, are you late for a meeting or something?

Me: "But he's dead already, look!" (I slit his throat)

Alistair: "Does the word 'insane' mean anything to you?"

Me: "Just shut up and follow my orders."

Alistair: "Remind me to never get injured around you."

holy shiiiiiiiiiiiii

The makers of Grand Theft Auto bring you:

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I bought this book this weekend. Every once in a while you come across a book that helps change your perspective on the world just a tiny little bit. I'm not that far into this yet, but this seems like it could be one of them.

Ishmael Beah was brainwashed with propaganda and drugs when he was 13 years old, and became a soldier. It's just so unbelievably heartbreaking, because one moment he and his friends are learning rap lyrics and dance moves and generally doing what kids do, and the next moment their parents are dead, their village is annihilated, and they're running for their god damn lives. He was twelve. It just reinforces my belief that we have absolutely no right to complain about anything, ever.

We were almost at the end of the clearing when we heard the whizzing of another rocket grenade approaching. We sped up our steps and took dives into the bush before the grenade landed, followed by several rounds of machine gun fire. The people who were right behind us were not so lucky as we were. The RPG caught up with them. One of them caught the fragments of the RPG. He cried loudly and screamed that he was blind. No one dared to go out and help him. He was halted by another grenade that exploded, causing his remains and blood to sprinkle like rain on the nearby leaves and bushes. All of it happened too fast.

As soon as we had crossed the clearing, the rebels sent some of their men to catch those who had made it into the bush. They started chasing and shooting after us. We ran for more than an hour without stopping. It was unbelievable how fast and long we ran. I didn't sweat or get tired at all. Junior was in front of me behind Talloi. Every few seconds, my brother would call my name, to make sure I wasn't left behind. I could hear the sadness in his voice, and each time I answered him, my voice trembled. Gibrilla, Kaloko, and Khalilou were behind me. Their breathing was heavy and I could hear one of them hissing, trying not to cry. Talloi was a very fast runner, even when we were younger. But on that evening we were able to keep up with him. After an hour or maybe even more of running, the rebels gave up chase and returned to Mattru Jong while we continued on.

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I love how understanding my parents are. After my dad asked what country this took place in, he went out and said Sierra Leone was not a country. I mean, I'd never heard of it either, but I'm not going to outright claim I know something about a place I know nothing about. Chris said that our mom thought this was part of my "Obama phase." It would probably make me very sad if I didn't find it so funny. Looking over the racism in her comment, it's good to know she doesn't think I'm capable of forming opinions yet and I'm still going through "phases" at 22 years old. Please don't say anything, Uncle John.

Sunday Youtube Post

Child sexual abuse goes on a lot more than people think. Somewhere between 15% and 25% of women have been sexually abused as children, and 5% to 15% of men. That could be one in five people. Jesus fucking Christ.

Both Catholic priests and police alike have been covering up the rapes of over 100 children over the course of 30 years.

The report of the commission found that the protection of pedophile priests was facilitated by “the structures and rules of the Catholic Church.” Government prosecutors and police facilitated the cover-up by allowing the church institutions to be beyond the reach of the normal law enforcement processes. Over the period the welfare of children was not even a factor to be considered. “Instead the focus was on the avoidance of scandal and the preservation of the good name, status and assets of the institution and of what the institution regarded as its most important members — the priests.”

I don't get it. I know I say I don't "get" a lot of things on this blog, but I really don't get this. You hear all these retards saying it's the atheists who are destroying everything, and then they just completely ignore this shit. Do they just block these things out, as not to threaten their sense of security? You never hear about the atheist organizations covering up child rape for decades at a time.

I mean, jesus fuck, soapbox mode motherfucking engaged -- it's fine if you believe in God, but why does anyone even bother with organized religion anymore? At all? This shit just keeps on happening, but everyone forgets it in a week, and then they go back to bashing the atheists and gays. I used to consider myself Christian, but even way back then I felt that organized churches simply got in the way of me and my God. Church is only good for a sense of community and security.

Yesterday, at a news conference, holding his hand over his heart, and with tears in his eyes, Martin apologized as a man and a bishop. “How do I feel when I have to unveil here before you the revolting stories of the sexual assault and rape of many young children and teenagers by priests of the archdiocese?” he said. “To each and every survivor my apology, my sorrow and shame for what happened.”

How about this, go fuck yourself and die. This infuriates me. Oh, you're sorry? Really? As a constant listener of Loveline, and faithful worshiper of Dr. Drew, I can tell you that every single one of those kids will be fucked up for the rest of their goddamn lives. What happened to them will constantly screw with all of their future interactions with other human beings, until they get into some good therapy (which will never happen to the majority of them, because the majority of them will be in denial and won't think they need help.) I'm usually not so fascist, but I have absolutely no problem with the castration of rapists. Fuck them. They gave up their humanity when they chose to be inhuman. I for one am very happy they're at the bottom of the prison ladders and they get raped all the god damn time behind bars. It isn't so nice, is it? Fuckers.

And what pisses me off just as much is that this won't affect the Catholic Church's unbelievable income in the slightest. There are plenty of people who refuse to give money to corporations which have donated money to gay rights or pro-choice organizations, and yet they have no fucking problem giving their hard earned cash to pedophiles and pedophile sympathizers. This is what religion does to people. They become so dependent on others telling them what their own moral code should be, and they end up just not questioning anything anymore. Then their fear and vulnerability allows others to convince them that evil is good and good is evil. Jesus titty-fucking Christ, just go back and read how they tried to justify this: "Over the period the welfare of children was not even a factor to be considered. Instead the focus was on the avoidance of scandal and the preservation of the good name, status and assets of the institution and of what the institution regarded as its most important members — the priests." I am a priest, therefore I have the right to rape children. I wish hell existed.

I realize Twilight isn't even worth my attention, as it is complete and utter trash, but it's hard to ignore these things. Some Twilight fans walked up to the guy who plays Edward with bloody necks. They cut themselves and asked him to suck their blood.

Twilight star Robert Pattinson says he worries about being infected with HIV when adoring fans approach him with open wounds and ask him to suck their blood.

Pattinson, who plays vampire Edward Cullen in the series, has revealed he genuinely fears for his life when fans mob him in the street.

The 23-year-old actor laid out his concerns to promote a new biography ahead of the next Twilight film, New Moon, which premieres this week.

"People ask me to bite them and want to touch my hair," Pattinson told the News Of The World.

"I just don't want someone to have a needle and give me HIV and I don't want to get shot or stabbed."

Pattinson recalled one time where a group of girls approached him bleeding from scratches they had just opened up on their necks.

"They were like, 'We did this for you' … I didn't know what to say — 'Thank you, guys?'"

Regardless of my hatred for Twilight itself, I really do feel bad for him. He seems like a fairly cool dude in real life.

"When you read the book," says Pattinson, looking appropriately pallid and interesting even without makeup, "it's like, 'Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.' I mean, every line is like that. He's the most ridiculous person who's so amazing at everything. I think a lot of actors tried to play that aspect. I just couldn't do that. And the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that's how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself. Plus, he's a 108-year-old virgin so he's obviously got some issues there."

[...]

"When I read it ... I was convinced that Stephenie was convinced that she was Bella, and ... it was like it was a book that wasn't supposed to be published, like reading her — her sort of sexual fantasy about some — especially when she says that it was based on a dream, and it's like, "Oh, then I had a dream about this really sexy guy" and she just writes this book about it, and there's some things about Edward that are just so specific that ... I was just convinced that this woman is mad, she's completely mad, and she's in love with her own fictional creation. And I sometimes ... feel uncomfortable reading this thing"

Also, here's a bunch of Twilight fans gettin' punk'd. They were told they were going to a Twilight premiere. They were not.

Twilight Fans Get Punked - watch more funny videos