(Partial) Game Review - Final Fantasy XIII

I've never been into Final Fantasy. I haven't been following this game in any way, because Square just makes the exact same game over and over and over again.

Call me a faggot, but I'm starting getting into Final Fantasy. If anyone's unfamiliar with the way this series works, every game is completely stand-alone, the characters and plots and settings have absolutely nothing to do with each other. I first started with Final Fantasy 7 back on the original Playstation many, many years ago. Almost every fan will agree that 7 was the best one ever made, which is unfortunate, since the fanfiction.net / deviantart fanbase has completely ruined it forever.



Good thing she watermarked that, wouldn't want anyone stealing this masterpiece.

Back then, I didn't 'get' how real RPGs worked. My only experience was with pokemon. I would just attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, attack, completely ignoring buffs, mages, etc. Unsurprisingly, I sucked.

Well, I was bored recently, so I decided to break out 10 again. I figured I have more experience with real games now, so it should be easier. I was right. It was really god damn easy. Maybe one or two bosses gave me trouble (fucking Yunalesca) but nothing I couldn't handle after a couple tries. The story was pretty good, but it could've been so much better if they had only tried a little harder. They had to go and Japanize it. Every character is downright awesome, EXCEPT for the protagonist and his love interest, who are both insecure pussies. In addition to the terrible voice acting, there were a few scenes that might've been meant to be funny or cute, but just didn't really translate well across cultures. This will make your balls retract.



Final Fantasy 11 doesn't count because that was an online game and nobody gives a shit. 12 was okay, but it never really kept my attention because its style seemed so bland to me. I'll probably give it another try pretty soon. But 13 just came out, and this is the point of this post. It is really, really good.



There's a rift in the gaming community about it. Just like with every single great game released on the current generation, half of the gaming community outright hates it just so they can be cool. All of this nerd rage is embodied in this here Destructoid review, brought to you by some fat fuck. It's like he's never played a Final Fantasy game before.

"OHMAHGOD, I can't believe the characters and story elements are the exact same as every other Final Fantasy game, THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS I WAS EXPECTING SOMETHING ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. Oh I'm sure the fans will be all over me for this one, GOD DAMN I'M SO FUCKING EDGY HHUUUUUGGGGHHH"

And I've heard other complaints too. It's too linear, or it's just a dungeon crawler. Have these idiots ever played a fucking JRPG before? That's like complaining that you just run around shooting people in first person shooters. FF13 simply took out all the boring minigames and city roaming that only served to slow the games down, because Square has never been able to do them right. It's all fighting and story. It's a lot better this way, and these stupid fucks don't even realize it. "Waaaaahhhh gimmee back my Chocobo breeding/racing/whatever, waaaahhh I wanna go into the amusement park with Tifa, waaaaaaahhh." Dumbshits.

The guy on Destructoid said that story "is crucial to any RPG, and let me tell you right off the bat that Final Fantasy XIII has perhaps the worst story of any main Final Fantasy game to date . . . Even by Final Fantasy standards, the story is absolutely absurd. Let that sink in for a moment. The game is absurd by Final Fantasy standards!"

It's not that bad. Really. This confirms it. This man has never played a Final Fantasy game before. I'm going to be completely honest, I'm only a few hours into this (which is why I put 'Partial' in the title). I don't know what's going to happen plotwise, so I can't really say anything about it. But from what I've been introduced to, the story seems like it could be something really freakin' good. Yes, that's by Final Fantasy standards. So that still isn't saying much, but it's a JRPG, so you have to learn how to lower your expectations a little. Japanese gaming companies make these games based on their standards, not on ours. I'll give the guy points on his comments about the characters though. They seem pretty two-dimensional at my point in the game. But it seems like they're building it up so that they can develop, so I'm holding out. Again, it's Japan, so just like in anime, boring and predictable archetypes are a requirement.

The art style really impressed me. The last few games have been huge letdowns in this department, but FF13 is absolutely gorgeous, probably the best I've seen since 7. It's somewhat simple in some areas, but at the same time it puts artistic emphasis on the elements that are meant to be particularly eye-catching. So it's basically, "Yeah I know I'm awesome but I try not to brag about it," which is the perfect balance that every artistic style should strive to achieve.

The combat is different. It's not worse, it's not better. It's different. I'm still a little uncertain about it. It seems like it could be really fun once I level up my team and unlock more shit, so I'm reserving judgment. It's much more streamlined and fast-paced. It's somewhat complicated, so instead of trying to explain it, this video sums it up really well. The combat itself starts at about 7:00 in.



Verdict: 8 / 10

NOTE: I try to use the entire scale instead of the standard 7-10, so this is meant to be really good.

Wait, Barack Obama isn't a phantasmal boogeyman, but an actual human being?

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham: "When you use the N word and when you question somebody’s patriotism, you’re off base. President Obama is a fine man. He’s a good father. He’s a good role model."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sunday Youtube Post

I heard Alan Grayson say that he went out and talked to some activists Sunday night during the health care vote, but I didn't think we'd be getting actual footage of it. The woman sounds like a dumbass Ron Paul supporter, but It's still a civil, informed discussion. It's amazing how much the rhetoric and hate gets toned down when people actually talk to each other face to face without an audience watching.



"I need to pay more because I'm a woman" - lol wtf

Once again, a politician's office was attacked. But here's the kicker - he's a Republican?

Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor said Thursday that his Richmond campaign office has been shot at and that he's received "threatening e-mails" -- but at the same time the House minority whip accused top Democrats of trying to exploit the threats they've been receiving for "political gain."

[...]

In brief and pointed remarks, Cantor said he would not be releasing any information about the other threats he's received, as some lawmakers have done, out of concern that it would "encourage more to be sent."

And he admonished his colleagues -- specifically Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine -- for "dangerously fanning the flames by suggesting these incidents be used as a political weapon."

[...]

Cantor, as minority whip, is the highest elected Jewish politician in the country, and he said some of the threats he's gotten in the past have been because of his religion. But all the recent threats against lawmakers appear to be connected to the health care debate.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who smelled bullshit. I did a little more digging, and found that the blogosphere beat me to it.

From TPM:

A preliminary investigation [by the Richmond police department] shows that a bullet was fired into the air and struck the window in a downward direction, landing on the floor about a foot from the window. The round struck with enough force to break the windowpane but did not penetrate the window blinds. There was no other damage to the room, which is used occasionally for meetings by the congressman.

So we know it wasn't a deliberate attack. Someone fired a gun off into the air at random from a long distance away, and Cantor's office was where the bullet landed. He's not going to release any of the threats, so I'm going to guess the ones about health care are made up. But there are aryans in America, so there's no doubt that he's put up with shit about being Jewish. The difference is that the lies about abortion and death panels that Republicans have been spreading are directly responsible for the threats Dems have been receiving.The current debate has absolutely nothing to do with this incident, and Cantor is going about doing the exact same thing he's accusing Democrats of. Meanwhile, Democrat Anthony Weiner was mailed some white powder. Fucking despicable.

You can bet your buttons Fox'll be beating the hell out of this tonight.

It Continues

So are we going to have to always live with right wing terrorist attacks every time a democratic president is elected? Is that the way America does things now? I just switched back and forth between Hannity and Maddow. Sean Hannity is talking about how the libruls are 'smearing' the tea partiers, and Rachel Maddow is talking about this shit.

• Terrorists attempt to kill Congressman's family

Days after his address was posted online by a Virginia Tea Party activist, the FBI and local law enforcement officials are investigating a "suspicious incident" at the home of Rep. Tom Perriello's brother.

A line to the propane tank on his brother's gas grill had been "severed," an aide to the Democratic congressman told CNN.

[...]

Politico reported Monday that a Tea Party activist in Lynchburg, angry over Perriello's vote in favor of health care reform legislation, had posted the address of Perriello's brother online and encouraged other activists to "stop by" and weigh in on the bill. The activist had apparently meant to post the congressman's home address but mistakenly published his brother's.

Perriello, who represents Virginia's conservative-leaning 5th congressional district, encompassing central and southern parts of the state. He was narrowly elected to his first term in 2008 and is considered one of the most vulnerable House Democrats in 2010.

On Wednesday, Perriello's office issued the following statement:

“My number one priority right now is ensuring the safety of my brother’s family, and I am grateful to law enforcement for their excellent work. While it is too early to say anything definitive regarding political motivations behind this act, it’s never too early for political leaders to condemn threats of violence, particularly as threats to other Members of Congress and their children escalate. And so I ask every member of House and Senate leadership to state unequivocally tonight that it is never OK to harm or threaten elected officials and their families with anything more than political retribution. Here in America, we settle our political differences at the ballot box.”

Yeah, good luck getting a Republican to acknowledge this ever happened. Also, this article got it wrong. These are not "activists," these are terrorists.

• Democratic offices are being vandalized all across the country

Mike Vanderboegh of Pinson, Ala., former leader of the Alabama Constitutional Militia, put out a call on Friday for modern “Sons of Liberty” to break the windows of Democratic Party offices nationwide in opposition to health care reform. Since then, vandals have struck several offices, including the Sedgwick County Democratic Party headquarters in Wichita.

“There’s glass everywhere,” said Lyndsay Stauble, executive director of the Sedgwick County Democratic Party. “A brick took out the whole floor-to-ceiling window and put a gouge in my desk.”

[...]

Vanderboegh posted the call for action Friday on his blog, “Sipsey Street Irregulars.” Referring to the health care reform bill as “Nancy Pelosi’s Intolerable Act,” he told followers to send a message to Democrats.

“We can break their windows,” he said. “Break them NOW. And if we do a proper job, if we break the windows of hundreds, thousands, of Democrat party headquarters across this country, we might just wake up enough of them to make defending ourselves at the muzzle of a rifle unnecessary.”

Vanderboegh told The Kansas City Star that the action was meant to “get everyone’s attention.”

“What I was trying to get across was that people do not understand how on the edge of civil conflict this country is,” he said.

Vanderboegh has yet to be arrested.

• Republicans are preventing the government from functioning

From ThinkProgress:

There is a little-known rule in the Senate stating that hearings can’t happen after 2:00 p.m. each day without unanimous consent. However, every day, at the start of business, the Senate generally agrees, by unanimous consent, to waive this rule and continue with the necessary business of holding hearings.... Republicans, however, are now refusing to give unanimous consent and are blocking the hearings.

Henry Reid: "Ironically, as they make false claims about transparency regarding health reform, they're shutting down a committee hearing today on transparency in government."

• Former Bush speechwriter David Frum: "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox."

• Republican Chuck Grassley, promoter of the death panel lie, takes credit for the health care bill

At the start of the process, Grassley was expected to be among those Senators working to craft a bipartisan bill. But it wasn't long before he abandoned that effort, and helped to start the "death panel" meme heard at town halls across the country throughout last summer.

Later on, Grassley joined with the Republicans in condemning the bill's medicare provisions. He jumped through several rhetorical hoops when he tried to explain his position in support Medicare while also attacking the idea of a public option last September.

[...]

In the memo send out to reporters by his staff on on the Senate Finance Commitee, Grassley claims that the bill will ensure that "Congress, the IRS, and the public will now have additional tools and information to ensure that charitable hospitals act charitably."

There's a reason the bill is so good when it comes to hospitals, Grassley's staff writes -- bipartisanship.

"The health care legislation signed into law yesterday includes provisions Grassley co-authored to impose standards for the tax exemption of charitable hospitals for the first time," his Finance Committee press staff writes.

I won't end this on a bad note though. The tea partier who mocked the man with Parkinson's has apologized.

"I snapped. I absolutely snapped and I can't explain it any other way... He's got every right to do what he did and some may say I did too (you're a piece of shit), but what I did was shameful. I haven't slept since that day... I made a donation (to a local Parkinson's disease group) and that starts the healing process... I wanted this to go away, but it won't and I'm paying the consequences... I've been looking at the web sites. People are hunting for me... That was my first time at any political rally and I'm never going to another one. I will never ever, ever go to another one." (lol).

This sounds like a King of the Hill episode.

If what he says is sincere and not just an excuse to get out of negative backlash, then it's a perfect example of how dangerous mob mentality can be. Propaganda's a hell of a drug.

By the way, the guy's name is Bob. He's got two masters' and a PhD. He was a nuclear engineer.

lol

oh no the bad guys won

i did everything i was told

why is this happening



I tried to tell you schmucks but NONE OF YOU LISTENED TO ME! The progressives have outed themselves as supporters of health care! The cloak has been unveiled.

Did he really just make an analogy about Fox News acting as the "father" of its viewers? That cult-like groupthink basically confirms George Lakoff's theory that conservatives are obsessed with father figures telling them what to do. RONALD REAGAN HELP US.

After taking some time off to mourn his father's passing, Keith made his triumphant return last night with a fantastic Special Comment on the atmosphere of hate in America, and the possible self-destruction of the Republican Party.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Moses

HOLY SHIT REPUBLICANS ARE IMPLODING THIS IS AWESOME



First, some of the highlights from last night. My prediction was correct. Republicans did nothing but stomp their feet and scream. Literally. They literally screamed at the top of their lungs.

Here's John Boehner. He yelled at Democrats.

"Have you read the bill?"

"Have you read the reconciliation bill?"

"Have you read the manager's amendment?"

People shouted back "Yes!" but Boehner kindly corrected them: "HELL NO, YOU HAVEN'T!" He's not a fake American. He's a real American. You betchya, reagan mcmaverick oil drill baby garf

And that's not even all of it. He went on to say that this bill disgraces the values of people like Thomas Jefferson. This alone could've been the laughable highlight. But he took it further. It also disgraces the values of... Moses. Moses? Moses. Putting limits on a corrupt industry to prevent the deaths of tens of thousands of people every year disgraces the values of Moses. I hope I'm not the only person who thinks this is on par with "You forgot Poland." This is amazing.



"Both" sides would do well to remember the dignity of the House lolololol

Texas Republican Randy Neugebauer yelled "BABY KILLER!" at Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak. One thing that's really impressed me in these last few months is how utterly amazing Republicans have been at lying. They can say whatever the flippity-fuck they want, and their supporters are going to believe it. Republican voters were told that this bill is going to fund abortions. Of course, this bill doesn't have fucking anything to do with abortion, but that sure as hell doesn't matter. The government is already prohibited from funding abortions. Despite this, these idiots still weren't satisfied until Obama signed an executive order guaranteeing that no funds will be used to pay for abortions. The only thing this "compromise" did was make it harder for women to get abortions legally on their own. And these people still didn't care.

I really doubt that Republicans would ever want abortion to be outright banned. If it was, then they'd have nothing to rile up the base like this. Can you imagine a world where you wouldn't be able to shout "CODE ABORTION BEEP BEEP" at any topic at all, and people wouldn't be right there to blindly follow you off a cliff? I don't want to live in that world.



hee hee ShhhhhShhhShhShhhh

Neugebauer admitted earlier today that he was the one who shouted it. But he specified! He didn't mean Stupak himself was a baby killer, he meant the bill was a baby killer! Okay! Thank you Mr. Neugebauer! That makes even less sense than it did originally! Did I mention this guy is a sponsor of the so-called "Birther Bill," which would require presidential candidates to show their birth certificates? Totally unrelated though.

Earlier in the day before the vote, Rep. Devin Nunes was asked what he thought about Congressman John Lewis being called a nigger by tea partiers as he walked through the capitol.

"When you use totalitarian tactics, people, you know, begin to act crazy."

Oh, how silly of me! It's the Democrats' fault! Again!



Then I woke up today and checked the news.

McCain: 'We're gonna keep acting the same way now, k?'



Rush Limbaugh claims America is "hanging by a thread"

"Today, as we start the radio program, America is hanging by a thread. So we have to see what we can do with a thread. At the end of the day, our freedom has been assaulted. This is the kind of change that people did not think they were going to get when they voted for Barack Obama."

YES IT IS. THIS IS LITERALLY WHY I VOTED FOR BARACK OBAMA.

Bricks have shattered the windows of Democratic offices in New York

Twitter is going to assassinate the president



Pastor Wiley Drake, once a VP candidate with Alan Keys, became an active terrorist this morning by calling for the deaths of all 219 Democrats who voted for health care yesterday.

Orange Country Pastor Wiley Drake fired off an email to his supporters this morning, telling them that all 219 Democrats have been placed on the “imprecatory prayer list.” “We’ll remember in November and pray Psalms 109 while waiting,” he urged, before listing each offending congressman by name in “Satan’s domain in Washington D.C.”

Psalms 109:8 reads: “May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership” followed by “May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.”



Tyler put up a good quote from philosopher John Locke as his status on facebook.

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common."

The House Passed Health Care Tonight. Sort of.

It's far from what it needs to be, but it's still a huge victory. It's not over though. Republicans are going to go down kicking and screaming, trying to find a way to undermine this and prevent it from doing its job. I can't wait for it to kick in so the American people will finally see that the Republicans have been lying to them. Not that their actual supporters will care. They don't need to. It's the independents who decide elections.






I really hope the entire "debate" in the House will be up online somewhere tomorrow. I couldn't catch it because I have a test tomorrow, but if the internet is to be believed, the way the Republicans were acting must have pretty fucking hilarious. They be wiggin'.

James Randi is gay

James Randi has been a hero of mine for years. He's a magician. His stage name is The Amazing Randi. He's also a strict skeptic, and he's been going on television debunking pseudoscience for his entire career (reminiscent of how pissed off Harry Houdini would get when people tried to pretend magic was real). Along with Carl Sagan, I'd say he has had the most influence on the modern skeptic community. I was first introduced to him on Penn and Teller's Bullshit!, I can't remember which episode, it was one of the earlier ones back when it was good. He was awesome, and I've been following him ever since.

In 1961, Randi put up a thousand dollars of his own money to be paid to any person who can show objective proof of the paranormal. Over the last fifty years, that amount has grown to $1,000,000. It's called One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge. It's still up. Not a single person has been able to pass it.

Randi was diagnosed with cancer last year. At The Amaz!ng Meeting 2009, where he revealed he'd be going through chemo, he said, "One day, I'm gonna die. That's all there is to it. Hey, it's too bad, but I've got to make room. I'm using a lot of oxygen and such—I think it's good use of oxygen myself, but of course, I'm a little prejudiced on the matter." He continued, "I want to be cremated, and I want my ashes blown in Uri Geller's eyes." (A world-famous psychic he helped expose in the 70s). His chemo was successful. Doctors put his five-year survival rate at 50%.

Earlier today, he made this blog post. At 81 years of age, he has officially come out of the closet.

Well, here goes. I really resent the term, but I use it because it’s recognized and accepted.

I’m gay.

From some seventy years of personal experience, I can tell you that there’s not much “gay” about being homosexual. For the first twenty years of my life, I had to live in the shadows, in a culture that was — at least outwardly — totally hostile to any hint of that variation of life-style. At no time did I choose to adopt any protective coloration, though; my cultivation of an abundant beard was not at all a deception, but part of my costume as a conjuror.

Gradually, the general attitude that I’d perceived around me began to change, and presently I find that there has emerged a distinctly healthy acceptance of different social styles of living — except, of course, in cultures that live in constant and abject fear of divine retribution for infractions found in the various Holy Books… In another two decades, I’m confident that young people will find themselves in a vastly improved atmosphere of acceptance.

Before publishing this statement, I chose to privately notify a number of my closest friends and colleagues — none of whom, I’m sure, have been at all surprised at this “coming out.” I’m prepared to receive the inevitable barrage of jeers and insults from the “grubbies” out there who will jump to their keyboards in glee to notify others of their kind about this statement, which to them will be yet further proof of the perfidy of the rationalist mode of life that I have chosen. Those titters of joy will be unheard over the murmur of acceptance that I confidently expect from my friends.

This declaration of mine was prompted just last week by seeing an excellent film — starring Sean Penn — that told the story of politician Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. I’m in excellent company: Barney Frank, Oscar Wilde, Stephen Fry, Ellen DeGeneris, Rachel Maddow, are just a few of those who were in my thoughts as I pressed the key that placed this on Swift and before the whole world…

I should apologize for having used Swift as the venue to publish this note, an item that is hardly the focus of what we promote and publish here, but I chose the single most public asset I have to make this statement. It’s from here that I have attacked irrationality, stupidity, and irresponsibility, and it is my broadest platform. Here is where I have chosen to stand and fight.

And I think that I have already won this battle by simply publishing this statement.

Okay. So he says he's gay. But can he provide any conclusive evidence for this claim?

Here's an awesome video explaining the Uri Geller drama. Near the end, he also sums up pretty well why I personally choose not to drink.

On his chemotherapy

Sunday Youtube Post

Don't watch this at work or school anything.

When the current generation of game consoles came out (PS3, 360, Wii), I said that there was nothing wrong with the last gen (PS2, Xbox, Gamecube) and the new consoles were happening too early. When I first heard that the NEXT generation of consoles will be here by 2012 at the earliest, I thought the exact same thing. Then I saw this NVIDIA demo.



I'm guessing that the quality of graphics is going to hit a ceiling within the coming years, where they just can't possibly get any better, or if they can, not better enough to really make a noticeable difference. I read an article a couple years ago speculating that the next big thing is going to be physics. Future gaming computers will not only need a graphics card, but also a separate card made specifically for handling the physics in games. So instead of having your computer slow to a crawl when a dozen people are fighting on the screen at once, computers will be able to handle tens of thousands of people.

Retired U.S. General John Sheehan says gay Dutch soldiers and "Liberalization" were responsible for Srebrenica Massacre

During the Bosnian War fifteen years ago, the town of Srebrenica was put under the protection of 600 lightly-armed Dutch peacekeepers. By July of 1995, the town was under siege by the Serbian army. NATO didn't answer them, and the town was overrun. In the five unspeakable days that followed, as many as 8,000 Muslims were slaughtered.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sheehan: “That led to a force that was ill-equipped to go to war. The case in point that I'm referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs. The battalion was understrength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone poles, marched the Muslims off, and executed them. That was the largest massacre in Europe since World War II.”

Committee Chairman Carl Levin: “And did the Dutch leaders tell you it was because of the gay soldiers there?

Sheehan: “Yes, they did. They included that as part of the problem. That the combination was the liberalization of the military, a net effect was basically social engineering.”

This part wasn't in the video. Dutch Ambassador Renée Jones-Bos was in the room. He didn't take too kindly to what John Sheehan just said about his military.

"I take pride in the fact that lesbians and gays have served openly and with distinction in the Dutch military forces for decades, such as in Afghanistan at the moment. The military mission of Dutch U.N. soldiers at Srebrenica has been exhaustively studied and evaluated, nationally and internationally. There is nothing in these reports that suggests any relationship between gays serving in the military and the mass murder of Bosnian Muslims."

And in case you're only reading these sparknotes instead of watching the video, Maddow also interviews Air Force Major Mike Almy, who was recently kicked out of the military for being gay.

Almy: "As I mentioned in the hearing after the general made his statement, I was stationed in Europe. I have served right alongside with the Dutch military. I have been in the field on an exercise with the Dutch where my American unit served right beside the Dutch military, officers and enlisted, and there were absolutely no problems whatsoever, and the issue of sexual orientation or Don't Ask, Don't Tell never once came up. It just simply was not an issue between the American forces and the Dutch forces."

When are these bigots going to stop making up these laughably embarrassing reasons to stamp out gay people, and just admit that the extent of their argument doesn't go any further than 'I hate faggots'? I wonder if Sheehan would think of applying his words to quite possibly the greatest military force that has ever walked the earth. Not only was homosexuality allowed within the Spartan military, it was encouraged. It was a huge morale booster. Really. Look it up.


"Come on gurlz, dining in hell's gonna be totally fab!"

Health Care? Crammed down MY throat?!

The House is voting on health care this Sunday. Democrats will be using a legislative process called reconciliation. Normally, 60 votes would be needed to pass this. It's too bad Congressional Democrats are a bunch of incompetent fuckwits, or else they might not have lost their 60 vote supermajority before they could actually accomplish something with it. Reconciliation is the answer. It only requires a simple majority, 51 votes. Plus, Republicans won't be able to use a filibuster to block the vote from happening.

Needless to say, Republicans have been shitting. Just watch Fox News for five minutes. How dare the majority try to pass something?! RECONCILIATION IS A DISGUSTING PARLIAMENTARY TRICK! (Not the filibuster though.) And Republicans should know. They love this trick. They set records doing this exact same thing in the 90s under Clinton. In fact, since its inception in 1974, Republicans have been responsible for 17 out of the 23 times reconciliation has been used to pass something. I guess that means Republicans are un-American?

Is reconciliation a shitty way to do things? It sure as hell is. It was originally meant to screw with fiscal things, deficits and surpluses, and other things I don't want to bother myself to understand. But just like every other rule Congress follows, it's been ass-raped to hell with different interpretations, and has long since lost its original purpose. But I don't give a shit. Congress is broken, and Congressmen like it that way. Nothing is going to change. We've wasted a year on this, so fuck it. If this is the only way it can happen, then let it happen.

And despite the fact that this health care debate has absolutely nothing to do with abortion, killing grandma, or fascist regimes, those are the only things Republicans can fucking talk about. They simply drop key phrases here and there to spark anger and prevent their supporters from thinking anything beyond that. A little like mobs. People would want this health care bill if they were actually smart enough to know what was in it. Hell, just ask Sarah Palin. She likes Canada's disgusting commie pinko health care so much, she crossed the border for it.

Gosh, I'm so glad we have such patriotic Americans fighting for patriotic American patriotism on our behalf. They're real Americans. Here's a few of them yelling at a man with Parkinson's disease on the street. They call him a communist, and mockingly throwing money in his face to "pay for his health care". An anger-keyword is also thrown in at one point, "handout." This video can't be embedded, it starts at :51. Maverick.



The woman at the end really pissed me off.

"We can all agree that health care does need to be reformed. But the manner in which it's being handled is unacceptable, no one's able to read it or understand it and it's just being crammed down out throats. It's going to cost us a lot of money, it's going to put small businesses out of work, and I'm just opposed to it."

First of all, you obviously don't think health care should be reformed, or else you'd vote Democrat. Democrats are the only people who have ever tried to do something about it, while Republicans just stand in the way. And second, just because you're unable to read it or understand it doesn't mean everyone else is unable to. I'm not going to pretend this can't be a confusing issue, but Christ, have you even tried? Information is really easy to get to these days with the internet. Those first few paragraphs of this post explaining reconciliation? Almost all of that is from wikipedia. It's really not that fucking hard.

Most polls coming out are slightly leaning against health care. Polls should rarely be believed, but if these ones are accurate, it's really god damn depressing that so many people are this fucking dumb. This woman was the smartest republican they could find. Think about how many people there are who are dumber than her who can vote. America is so fucked.

Sunday Youtube Post

Still better than Avatar.

One of the greatest Americans alive introduces the Public Option

Awesome, can't wait to see the democrats do absolutely nothing with it.

Alan Grayson is such a hardass. His take-no-shit attitude reminds me a lot of Davy Crockett when he was a Congressman: "I bark at no man's bid. I will never come and go, and fetch and carry, at the whistle of the great man in the White House no matter who he is."

As readers of this blog may or may not remember, I'm planning on making a graphic novel for my portfolio. This idea sort of fell on its ass for a while and I haven't been doing anything with it, but then about a week ago I spontaneously started drawing again. I've been reading drawing books on the human body, so that when I draw people, they won't look like stiff action figures. Let me tell you, trying to memorize all the muscle groups and getting it all to look right is really fucking hard. I sort of put it aside to begin with just because it was so frustrating.

Then yesterday, it literally just 'clicked.' I sat down, and I got it, I knew exactly what to do. I don't agonize over which line goes where anymore, I know where the muscle groups are supposed to be, and I do it.

Forgive the shitty digital camera photos, my scanner is currently out of commission.


I think I might need to work my on shading a bit more, but that's okay, because this is going to be in black and white, so it's not like the shading gradients need to be all that detailed anyway. I think my biggest problem is that I overthink fucking everything, and I obsess over the smallest little things that no one even cares about. Hopefully once I get into cartoony mode and begin to develop a style of my own, all of that will be drowned out.

I still can't decide if I'm going to ink everything on paper, or scan them and do it in Illustrator. I read that doing it digitally is gaining popularity, but it takes a lot longer. I might just have to invest in a tablet.

I'm really happy with these. I haven't started on the concept art for the novel yet, but I don't think that phase is too far off if I keep this up. Perspective still confuses me a bit though, so I'm going to nail that down before I start designing the weapons and ships and junk. I want this depiction of the future to be somewhat realistic, so I'm reading a couple books right now written by a collection of engineers and scientists speculating on what human colonization of space will look like. I also need to learn how to draw clothes. That's the whole point of drawing half naked people, once you're familiar with how the body moves and curves, it all just falls into place, because clothing just wraps around everything (you have to pretend it isn't on a flat plane and think three-dimensionally). I also won't really delve into this until I go through some actual professional work (Transmetropolitan, Walking Dead, The Boys) so I can actually have an idea of what I'm supposed to be doing. This is fun as hell.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

WHY IS THIS NEWS

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy