Kaiju

Okay so it has been a while... I've been busy.

So, the other day I was browsing around in Toys R Us. Not looking for anything in particular, just waiting on food at a nearby deli. As I was walking around this kid was showing off a Godzilla toy to his mom. Her first question was "what does it do?". It took every ounce of self control that I possess to not respond with "destroys Tokyo at seemingly random intervals". My question now is, did I do the right thing? I missed out on some comedy gold there.

That is all... for now.

Never forget 6 Aug. 2011

On this day in 2011 a Chinook helicopter, known as Extortion 17 was shot down. All hands were killed in the resulting crash. There were 38 people on board. 25 American special operations personnel, five United States Army National Guard and Army Reserve crewmen, seven Afghan commandos, and one Afghan interpreter. A MWD (Military Working Dog) was also killed in the crash. I felt the need to post this. Helping to ensure that they are never forgotten.

Love this...

I can't help myself, I laugh hard every time I see this commercial.

Lone Survivor

I have referenced the book Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10 here a few times. Well they are making a movie about it and the first trailer was released today. I will be seeing this movie as soon as it releases (perhaps even a midnight showing). I highly recommend the book, and here is the trailer...

Royal line

This is totally awesome.

"The Triforce. The sacred triangle. It is a balance that weighs the three forces: Power, Wisdom and Courage. If the heart of the one who holds the sacred triangle has all three forces in balance, that one will gain the True Force to govern all."

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Time is really not on my side...

Haven't updated recently as I have been somewhat busy. I started school at the beginning of July. Go AMU Eagles!? Still working two jobs although one job doesn't really take up that much time. Wish I had more time for video games, but sadly I do not. I keep telling myself that it will all be worth it when I finally receive a piece of paper. Did that come off as too cynical?

And that is really about it for anyone that is actually interested. Hopefully I'll get back to posting some random things soon.

Linkativity

Does anyone else think that Jeff Bridges character in R.I.P.D. is really just his version of Rooster Cogburn from True Grit? The more I see the trailer the more I am convinced of this.

It's Morphin' time!?

Another escapist quiz. Somehow it thinks I am...

You know the funny thing about morphin'? You don't appreciate it till you can't do it anymore!

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Man of Tomorrow?

Somehow I can actually see DC comics doing this.

The Escapist : LoadingReadyRun : Man of Steal

Actually someone I used to hang out with and I had this theory that Marvel Comics employed ninjas to listen in on conversations and that is where they got most of their ideas.

Quizical

The questions used to get to the answer are more entertaining than the answer itself.

NOW GO PUNCH SOME BAD GUYS IN THE DICK!

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It's called "Backpedaling".

It was announced today that Microsoft will be reversing direction on the DRM for the forthcoming Xbox One. I am in favour of this decision, but I am also cautious. Based on comments by Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business President Don Mattrick the decision was made based on gamer feedback. However, if the restrictions are this easy to change/remove, what is to keep them from re-implementing them later? The answer is vigilance. We, as gamers (or people against DRM and invasion of privacy (more of that in a minute)), need to continue to make our voices heard. Personally I don't want the kinect, but I do sorta want an xbone. There are games that are exclusive to Microsoft that I do want to play I'm looking at you Dead Rising 3. Thankfully there is recently introduced Legislation that, if passed, will change how the kinect camera is used to gather information, and giving the user greater control over it.

All that said this is still reason to celebrate. Previously gamers have been ignored (well mostly), but this proves what a united front can accomplish. I'd say that this can even be applied to non-gaming related things. If we dislike something we do not have to sit back and take it. If we come together and make our voices heard we should be able to beat anything.

On a complete side note I am totally geeking out over the E3 trailer for The Order: 1886. As a brand new IP it looks to be quite promising. Chick it out...

The power of email.

I'm just going to leave this right here...


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net Read more at http://www.explosm.net/comics/3201/#YhjsHhTo0f4FX7Xo.99

Sharing is caring

Only a slight dig at M$ and the Xbone.

H-Hour

It is really no secret that I am a video game fan. Recently I stumbled across this kickstarter;

I have fond memories of the first two SOCOM games, so this is definitely something I'm interested in. Plus the man has a very honest sounding first name. I'm sharing because I want it to succeed.

For those wondering H-Hour is the military term used to denote the specific time at which an operation or exercise commences, or is due to commence.

Philosophising

Question: If you do the wrong thing for all the right reasons, is it still wrong? It isn't really a question of the ends justifying the means. More a question of if something is wrong according to society but it is done to achieve a positive outcome, is it still the wrong thing to do?

Vacation

I recently decided that sometime in the next few years I want to take a vacation. I want to go to Pryp'yat and see the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Nobody seems to want to go with me though. Any takers?

LEON!

Yes I get to be Leon!

"You're right. This is just the beginning."

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Just the result I was hoping for.

Still funny after all this time

So I was going through some old files on my computer and found the below picture. It was created by a friend who was bored. Sadly I am no longer that skinny and sport facial hair these days. Oh and I don't wear sunglasses at all hours of the day.



I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

Thanks RB

Wrong... funny, but wrong...

Found this pic online. It is too funny to be right and my childhood will never be the same.



I daresay that it is equally as good as this one...



And that is it for today.

Movin' on up...

I now know, at least somewhat, how George and Weezie felt. I have been promoted at work. Management... There really is nothing else to say.

Also I am somewhat saddened by the announcement that Ray Harryhausen has died. While I was never a super fan of his movies I cannot deny his contributions to film.

And that is it for me today.

Epic

WB has released a new trailer for the release date of Man of Steel. It is really short and doesn't add anything to what we saw in the last trailer. However, if you go here you can hear an entire track from the score by Hans Zimmer. He's no John Williams, but I'm digging the epicness of it.

For those interested the new-ish trailer is below...

May the 4th...

Okay I got this from my Brother, so I only take credit for sharing it.

If today is May the fourth (be with you), and tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo. Does that mean that Monday is Revenge of the sixth?

That will be all.

Crossover

The other day I was watching reruns of old(er) cartoons on Boomerang and I had a thought. How awesome would it be if there were cartoon crossovers? I don't mean like where one or more characters from one series show up in another series, I'm talking something much more awesome. Like G.I. Josie and the Thundercats, a sequel could be G.I. Josie and the SWAT Cats . Or Jabber Jawesome (Jabber Jaw and the Street Sharks). Perhaps even including live action characters into it. Something like Power Rangers Turbo Teen. One of my personal favourites is Let's get Danger Mouse (Darkwing Duck and Danger Mouse). Ooh... maybe Conan the Centurion(s) where Conan gets asked to join the Centurions (man and machine, power extreme).

The possibilities are endless...

Schrodinger's cat!?

So I recently commissioned a shirt to be made. My manager at one of my jobs does it in his spare time. You should check him out at his site.

Here is the front of the shirt.

And the back.


If nothing else, I find it amusing.

Holy fecal matter! George Jones died today!? I'm sorta sad now.

It's a bird, it's a plane...

Recently I have been geeking out over the new Man Of Steel trailer. Seriously. It is completely awesome. For those who haven't seen it...



I do have to agree with MovieBob that they really seem to be playing up the Jesus allegory with this one.

Death P.I.

Recently I have had this idea for a story... or something. Basically it asks the question, what if Death was a private investigator? Maybe not Death him/her/itself, but an avatar thereof. Obviously they wouldn't want to mess with the natural order of things, so perhaps Death would only take cases involving the supernatural or something where the natural order won't be affected. I don't know... needs more fleshing out, but I think the idea has merit. Maybe something like if The Dresden Files starred DEATH from the Discworld series.

Okay nothing more to say here, bye.

The death of innocents and the death of innocence.

I feel the need to share this.  J. Michael Straczynski originally wrote these words in Amazing Spider-Man (v2) #36.  That issue came out mere weeks after the 9/11 attacks.  From the first time I read them I have cherished these words.  All 9/11 references have been removed by JMS.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you the following special bulletin.

Follow the sound of sirens.

Some things are beyond words.
Beyond forgiveness.
Beyond comprehension.
Because only madmen could contain the thought, execute the act.
The sane world will always be vulnerable to madmen
because we cannot go where they go to conceive of such things.

Even those we thought our enemies are moved. 
Because some things surpass rivalries and borders.
Because the story of humanity is written in tears.
In the common coin of blood and bone.
In the voice that speaks within even the worst of us, and says "This is not right."

Also here are those who face danger without fear or armor.
Those who step into the darkness without assurances of ever walking out again,
because they know there are others waiting in the dark.
Awaiting salvation.
Awaiting word.
Awaiting justice.

Ordinary men. 
Ordinary women.
Made extraordinary by acts of compassion.
And courage.
And terrible sacrifice.

Ordinary men. 
Ordinary women.
Refusing to surrender.

Ordinary men.
Ordinary women.
Refusing to accept the self-serving proclamations of holy warriors of every stripe, 
who announce that somehow we had this coming. 

We reject them in the knowledge that our tragedy is greater than the sum of our transgressions.

There are no words.
There are no words.

The death of innocents and the death of innocence.
Rage compounded upon rage. Rage enough to blot out the sun.
And the air still filled with questions.

“Is it going to happen again? 
What do I tell my children? 
Why did this happen?”

What do we tell the children?
Do we tell them the evil is a foreign face?
No. The evil is the thought behind the face, and it can look just like yours.

Do we tell them evil is tangible, with defined borders and names and geometries and destinies?
No. They will have nightmares enough.

Perhaps we tell them that we are sorry.
Sorry that we were not able to deliver unto them the world we wished them to have. 
That our eagerness to shout is not the equal of our willingness to listen.

Or perhaps we simply tell them that we love them, and that we will protect them. 
That we would give our lives for theirs and do it gladly, so great is
the burden of our love.

In a universe of Xboxes and Itunes, it is, perhaps, an insubstantial gift. 
But it is the only one that will wash away the tears 
and knit the wounds 
and make the world a sane place to live in.

We could not see it coming. 
No one could. 
We could not stop it. 
No one could.
But we are still here. With you. 
Today. Tomorrow. And the day after.

We live in each blow you strike for infinite justice, 
but always in the hope of infinite wisdom.

When you move, we will move with you. 
Where you go, we will go with you. 
Where you are, we are in you.

Because the future belongs to ordinary men and ordinary women, 
and that future must be built free of such acts as these, 
must be fought for and renewed like fresh water.

Because a message must be sent to those who mistake compassion for weakness. 
A message sent across six thousand years of recorded blood and struggle.
And the message is this:

Whatever our history, whatever the root of our surnames, 
we remain a good and decent people 
and we do not bow down and we do not give up.

The fire of the human spirit cannot be quenched by bomb blasts or body counts.
Cannot be intimidated forever into silence or drowned by tears. 

We have endured worse before; we will bear this burden and all that come after,
because that's what ordinary men and women do. 
We persevere.
No matter what.

This has not weakened us.
It has only made us stronger.

In recent years we as a people have been 
tribalized and factionalized 
by a thousand casual unkindnesses.

But in this we are one.

Flags sprout in uncommon places, the ground made fertile by tears and shared resolve.

We have become one in our grief.
We are now one in our determination.
One as we recover.
One as we rebuild.

You wanted to send a message, and in so doing 
you awakened us from our self-involvement.
Message received.
Look for your reply in the thunder.

In such days as these are heroes born. 
The true heroes of the twenty-first century.
You, the human being singular.
You, who are nobler than you know and stronger than you think.
You, the heroes of this moment chosen out of history.

We stand blinded by the light of your unbroken will. 
Before that light, no darkness can prevail.

In their memory, draft a covenant with your conscience, 
that we will create a world in which such things need not occur.

A world which will not require apologies to children, but also a world whose
roads are not paved with the husks of their inalienable rights.

Graft now their echo onto your spine. 
Become girders and glass, stone and steel, 
so that when the world sees you, it sees them. 

And stand tall.

Stand tall.

Stand tall. 

J. Michael Straczynski

Which vigor are you?

In this weeks Escapist quiz we learn which vigor from Bioshock Infinite we are. Oddly enough I am the one vigor I used only when I had to.

Take charge of your future ... and anything mechanical.

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Elder Scrolls, Eh.

So the other night while working my job at GameStop the MOD and I started talking about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. We both agree that it is a good game, but I feel that it is sorta empty. Yes the towns/cities are populates (some more than others), but everywhere else is just snow and trees. From there I, jokingly, made the statement that it was like they set the game in Canada (y'know a frozen wasteland most of the year).

From there we started discussing the changes that need to be made to the game to make this work. Heavy armour is now goalie pads and every weapon is now a hockey stick. The dragons need to be replaced with flying moose. And so on...

Someone make this happen!

Words to live by...

You'll get more with a kind word and a 2x4, than you will with just a kind word.

Beer

This comic sums up everything I've been told regarding the taste of beer.


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net Read more at http://www.explosm.net/comics/3111/#Site8vx3MiuOk3SA.99

For the record I prefer Scotch.

Random thought

It occurs to me that if Dragon Ball Z were created today (or within the past few years) the Z would probably stand for zombie(s).

Although, given how often the characters are brought back to life, they may as well be zombies.

SimQuiz

Not bad for having never played a SimCity game before.

I scored 50%, with 5 of 10 correct on The Escapist's SimCity Quiz-a-palooza.
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Virginia Dreamin'

Recently I have been reading through Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence (better known as Lawrence of Arabia). In it there is a quote (players of Uncharted 3 may also recognise it).

All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.

This reminds me of my Junior year in high school. During that year there was a central theme of The American Dream that ran primarily through English, but was also present in History class (American History). While I never thought of it at the time the above T.E. Lawrence quote makes me wonder; what is more important the dream or the dreamer?

Realistically an argument can be made that neither is more important than the other. But without the dreamer there is no dream... or is there? What say you?

Music

Have you ever heard part of a song in a commercial or movie ad and wanted to hear more? I have. Most recently a song played in the commercials for National Geographic's Inside Combat Rescue. This is not the first time, just the most recent. It got me to wondering if this ever happens to other people. For those wondering the song and (very weird) video are below.

Iconagraphy

Is the Toyota logo supposed to look like someone wearing a cowboy hat?

If so, can I be their mascot?

Saint Valentine's Day

Al Capone was the only man who knew how to properly celebrate this "holiday".

That is all.

Why?

What is the deal with nerd culture? Specifically why do people think that my enjoyment of something that they dislike somehow lessens their enjoyment of it?

My primary example is a friend of mine. He is a huge Star WArs fan and takes some level of personal insult when someone makes disparaging remarks about it. WHY!? Does their dislike of Star Wars somehow take away from his love of it?

This particular Jimquisition tackles the subject from a slightly different angle.

The Escapist : Jimquisition : Fake Nerd Girls

Seriously though, why can we not just enjoy something for what it is (or isn't)? Why do we constantly have to listen to others tell us what is right and proper? Why does another person's like or dislike of something invalidate your personal feelings towards the same?

I realise nothing I say here will change anything, but I had to make my feelings known on the subject.

Sadness

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, author of the book American Sniper was killed earlier today. There are few details that I could find and I'm sure that in the end there will be more questions than answers.

On a side note no one submitted any ideas for my new tagline. So I picked something from somewhere else and it is now live. You can still send me suggestions, but I may not use them.

Han

...Shot first

Filler!? In Books!?

A conversation I had with a friend recently got me to thinking, are books guilty of filler? Anyone who has watched any anime, notably Naruto and Bleach, know what I mean when I say filler. However, I will explain it for the uninitiated. Filler is a term used to describe episodes of a series that do nothing but take up space. They do nothing to further the plot, have no real character development, and no real lasting impact. I am in the process of reading through Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. And while I am only on book seven, A Crown of Swords, I already feel that there is too much filler. That is to say that there seem to be segments in each book that do little to nothing to further the plot, have no real character development, and no real lasting impact. While I enjoy the series, so far at least, there are times where everything becomes tedious and I have to take small breaks. Gotrek and Felix stories really help for said small breaks. To be fair I have been warned that some of the later books in the Wheel of Time series almost completely fit the definition of filler.

So, what do you have to say regarding filler in books?

Also there are not too many days left in the contest to choose my new tagline. Any suggestions are welcome (keep 'em clean). The winning entry, chosen by me, will be used to replace "Living vicariously through others since 1980". Enter now!

Book time!

So I finally finished reading the book Star Wars: Choices of One. After several false starts, I decided to make myself read it. As a general rule I love anything written by Timothy Zahn, but this one was really slow to start. Once things start building up and the events get rolling the book really starts to shine. I highly recommend it to any and all Star Wars fan.

One of the reasons I really like Zahn's writing is that his work feels more like Star Wars than most other authors. I really like Mike Stackpole and Aaron Allston, but Zahn really seems to have captured the Star Wars from our (my) youth.

Dinner time!

I was once asked if I could have any five people, living or dead, over for dinner who would they be. My list has been ever changing over time, but I believe I have narrowed it down some.
1.) George Strait - He has always been my favourite singer, and I could not pass up inviting him.
2.) John Wayne - The Duke. Need I say more?
3.) Marcus Luttrell - Read the book Lone Survivor and you will understand why.
4.) Musashi Miyamoto - The Japanese sword saint. If I could have him as a sword instructor for a day...
5.) Yoshiyuki Tomino - He created Gundam that is enough for me.

As I have said, this list tends to change at intervals. Honourable mentions go to Brandon Sanderson, Jeanne D'Arc, Senior Airman Brian Kolfage, Gabby Franco, and the list goes on and on.

Please feel free to share you ideas. Also I am beginning to think that people really like my current tagline, as I haven't gotten many suggestions for a new one.

Thanks and buh-bye,

Weapon of choice.

It would seem that I know my ancient weapons pretty well.

I scored 90%, with 9 of 10 correct on The Escapist's Name That Ancient Weapon.
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Two posts, one day (Epic Hole)

This just needed to be shared. I have nothing else to say.

The Escapist : Jimquisition : Epic Hole (B Mine Cliffy)

Oh, yeah... send me suggestions for a new tagline.

New Year, New You

Greetings from the year 2013! And so another year has gone, never to pass again.

Confession time: I don't get all the new year hype. Never have. Most probably never will. It just seems to me that it is simply another day. Sure the year has changed, but I don't see how that is much different from any other change on the calendar.

And now I have a little contest for any and all my readers. At the top of my page is the tagline "Living vicariously through others since 1980". I am giving you the opportunity to change it. Starting today and running through the end of the month I will be accepting submissions for a new tagline. I have nothing to offer to you in return... except credit for the new tag, of course. Just leave a comment on any post going forward from today or comment on my Google+ page. The winner will be selected on 31 Jan. 13 and placed on the page on 01 Feb. 13. Please keep it clean and have fun. May the best tagline win!