Howdy!

Another weekend is upon us, and not a minute too late. For us here in the USA we get a long weekend as Monday is a holiday. No work or school for me, I plan to spend the day hanging out with my wife and getting some gaming in.

I am about to finish GTA IV (not 100% completion) so I need something else to play. I'd love to go another round on Bioshock and get my last achievement, but I just finished it. I am thinking about going for remaining Dead Rising or Saint's Row achievements. Then again, I just played GTA IV so Saint's Row could be out. I could start playing Halo again, and I do have God of War II which I have barely touched in over a year. My birthday is in 27 days, so I will hit the game jackpot soon.

TV wise, Heroes is great this season, but it keeps me from watching Prison Break which was also awesome so far. Thank God for DVD. The Shield has been good too, a bit slow but it is going to take off at the end. Shouldn't South Park be starting soon?

On the election front-the more I read, the more convinced I am that neither guy is fit for the job. Obama has great ideas but will raise taxes and likely not get much done, McCain wants to appoint Supreme Court Justices that will turn America into a police state-he also has no clue what is going on. When it comes to the Vice Presidential candidates-Biden is a scumbag and Palin doesn't seem like she takes this seriously. I am writing in my vote: I supported Ron Paul from the beginning, I will in the end, even if he stands a snowballs chance in hell of winning.

College is so/so this semester. My models of intervention class is cool, but as long as you read the instructor's powerpoints, you pass. My qualitative research class is alright, I have a cool teacher who teaches well. She wants you to learn and it shows-too bad I hate doing research. My social work and the law course is dull as dishwater, I love constitutional law, but I didn't want that kind of course. I wanted a law course that teaches me about the stuff I need to know for my practice-so I just zone out and post here when I am in that class. No tests, just papers, so I don't have to pay attention.

I love working at the VA-I am learning so much from the Psychiatrists and I am allowed to see patients and comment during treatment meetings. I am even developing treatment plans. I get to do a little bit of counseling, but I think more of that comes later. I am trying really hard to get a job there, so lets hope it works out.

Sorry I have been so lax on posting on people's blogs-GS's new system makes it hard for me to keep track. I will make more of an effort.

Have a great weekend, it's time for me to go ice Rascalov and put GTA IV to bed.

R13

Howdy!

I didn't catch the debates last night, I was too busy playing Bioshock. I do care about politics as I am an active voter and I care about this nation. I feel that the debates are nothing more than a childish contest rather than a discussion about who has the better and more viable options. I must give kudos to Obama and Palin for getting further than where many dared to dream. Who cares if you are not an old white guy? Why not vote a woman or someone who is not white in if they are the best for the job? I'd vote for a someone who was transgendered, gay and a minority if they had the right idea. I just worry about our electoral process becoming even more of a popularity contest. This is an election, not American Idol.

(WARNING! POSSIBLE SPOILERS! That and if you haven't played the game, you may want to read up on it first)

Bioshock! I love this game, it is probably one of the best games I have played in a very long time. I got it right after it came out, and I loved it from the get-go. I haven't played many games that have strong stories, a tough challenge but not terribly hard, great graphics, and amazing gameplay. The game is heavy on morality and though it is a game which is nothing more than graphics and code-it makes you think. I saved all of the little sisters in my first run and the ending was satisfying-it made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. That and I relied more upon guns than plasmids, so the lack of ADAM from the little sisters wasn't too much of a problem.

Well given that I am an achievement seeker, I decided to get the achievements for beating the game on hard, not using the vitachambers (which I didn't use on my first run anyways), and by maxing out all my plasmid and tonic tracks. I figured the most prudent way to do this would be to harvest the little sisters. I hate doing that, the thought of killing a child is completely unnerving even if it is a game.

The game does make you think about all sorts of levels of morality. The game's antagonist, Andrew Ryan, wanted to build a place where people literally "got what they gave" people flocked there but as the other antagonist states: "somebody has to clean the toilets." There will be people are are more and less skilled than others-if people apply themselves to the full potential they may only get so high. The natural order of things means that some are able to be neurosurgeons and others can only mop floors. Paradise and prosperity are never guaranteed, many times they are earned-unless you are like that braindead tramp Paris Hilton.

Add in messing with your genetic code and all hell breaks loose, this leads to the idea that some things should not be messed with. Atlas' comment at the beginning of the game sums it up-as your character is freaking out after injecting himself with something that messes with his genetics: "Don't worry, calm down, you genetic code is being re-written." Don't worry? The game makes you think that there is no such thing as utopia, I couldn't agree more. As long as men are flawed, so will their institutions be. Andrew Ryan made himself his own god and the people of Rapture did as well and once again, there are some things that one should not do.

All subjects in this world can be broken down into good and evil-they are the most basic, yet most complex of consideratons. I see them both as subjective-what is good to one is evil to another. Evil people despise what is good and love what is bad, but who makes the decision of what is what? I tend to favor the school of thought that says that fairness, peace, justice, and love are what is good and selfishness, destruction, unfairness, and hatred are evil. I've long said: "There is no difference between heroes and villains, they are loved by one group and hated by another for the same deed." With all of these games these days that have moral choices it makes you wonder what you are.

I can play as good or evil characters, though it is taxing and hard to play as someon who is evil. I just frame it that "its a game, you are doing it for completions sake." Though it doesn't make it easier. KOTOR really pushed this in the first game, it was easier for me to be evil in that game because I was at a horrible point in my life, it was an outlet for my pain-but it helped me think.

Our actions can go beyond the immediate, they may come into play later on down the road. When I thought of this I realized that by being someone who was completely selfish and caused pain rather than alleviated it those actions may lead to someone I love being hurt later. At that moment, I knew I could never be evil and it's brought me much peace.

I would go as far to say that good is present in every evil person and vice versa. We are all capable of doing good and terrible things. At the end of the day, it's a choice.

~R

Howdy

Sunday-I have always hated Sunday! Monday is bad enough, but Sunday is the big, cold, reality check that reminds you that another week awaits. In the fall it is not too bad because you have football to watch, but every other time out of the year it is the annoying little brother of Monday. No football viewing today-the Steelers are playing tomorrow night. I don't like Monday night games, I barely get any sleep and I am groggy all day the next day. I figured I'd type this on out while the Xbox cools down.

I am playing Bioshock again-this time on "Hard" which is pretty accurate. I went toe to toe with a Big Daddy the other day and I got my tail kicked! Well...not before I took off over 50% of it's health in open field fighting! Bioshock is a great game-it really makes you think. Though I am taking the "bad guy"-if you can call it that-path through the game this time. I did the good guy thing the first time, and I want to see how the other half live. Although it requires me to do horrible things in the game that give my real life conscience a jolt. I do like the thought provoking games that challenge your sensibilities. Though I would never be a bad guy in real life, you learn a lot about yourself if you play as one.

I start my 6th week of school tomorrow-wow, almost mid-term already! I look forward to graduating next December. I am rather fed up with school and the dirty looks I get from my peers because I don't exactly share their political beliefs. To some, being an independent still means you are to the "right of the left wing" whereas they don't understand it is still being "left of the right wing". Sorry, political ideology infuriates me-look at what this whole "Liberal V. Conservative" BS has gotten us. It has served to divide our nation and plunge us into a horrible scenario. Hasn't anyone figured out that by looking independently at each issue, weighing the pros and cons, and acting in an unbiased manner is the best way to make good decisions?

Well I am off to post a bit and listen to some music before I play. Right now "High Hopes" by Pink Floyd is playing. For those of you who are younger, the song is a rather stark view of things to come, for those of us who are outside of our teens and early 20's it's most thought provoking because it raises good points. Though I don't feel that the "grass was greener and the light was brighter" when I was younger, they were just a different shade of green and a different kind of bulb. Though I urge all of you that are younger to make the most out of your youth and never lose sight of the "nights of wonder, with friends surrounded."

WITH VERTIGO MAKE YOU DEAD!

Howdy!

The title of the blog and the first line of it is a line from the Metallica song "The Shortest Straw" why you ask? Well, today gamers of the world won a tremendous victory.

Jack Thompson, thorn in the side to free speech advocates and video game fans alike was PERMANENTLY disbarred from the state of Florida. That's right! Jacky Boy cannot practice law anymore. He railed against the game industry relentlessly as he pretty much stated that video games made the world a bad place. He also got on 2 Live Crew's case for a song as well as one of my favorites, Howard Stern, for his show.

Seriously, it is because of idiots like him we are hindered on finding real solutions to real problems. Video games DO NOT make people kill people, anyone who takes a life of another out of malice does so of their own free will. There are exceptions for the mentally ill, but they are only 1% (statistically) of that population. Instead of worrying about video game violence we should be worrying about more important things like the rancid economy, government shenanigans, and which presidential candidate will mess things up the least.

History has had it's share of scapegoats: comic books, radio, TV, Rock and Roll, and now video games. The last time I checked, Western Civilization has not fallen, and if it ever does, I am sure it will not be a result of any of the aforementioned institutions. Look at Shakespeare-his stuff was raunchy and violent-nobody blamed him for society's ills at that time. Even holy books have their share of sex and violence, but nobody mentions that.

People like Jack Thompson are dangerous rabble rousers who can generate a great deal of mass hysteria very easily. It seems that all you have to do is say "what about the children!" and people will be grabbing for their torches and pitchforks. Silencing him will not end practices like this, but it will turn down the volume a little bit. I have a feeling someone will take up his banner one of these days-everybody has to have an enemy, gaming is no exception.

I cannot tell anyone how to think, nor would I ever, but I would urge all of you to think long and hard about what you believe and why you believe it. Believing in anything because your peer group does, your parents do, or your friends is rather insane. Following ideologies is also dangerous and it makes you look like a fool. I don't care what you believe, as long is it's what you truly believe because you did the research on it. I guess my message here is: seek the truth and ignore the rest.

I am off to play some Xbox and have a celebratory beer commemorating the fall of this pathetic, ignorant, foolish, unscrupled, hypocritical, pompous, annoying, conniving scumbag.

Remember: The only freedom any one of us really has is the freedom to think for one's self.

-R

Howdy!

I posted some pics up of Doug a few days ago, there are also pics of a family trip to the zoo! Enjoy.

R