Dapple

That post about Ron Paul sucked so I deleted it, and the Iron Fist review I wrote below is bad, but I left it up because some of the other things are okay. Also deleted a six paragraph draft I had brewing about cross promotion in MMA. I sure do have high standards for my one reader (hey Chris!). And the second part of this post is going to be close to unreadable, so read at your own peril.

But up first, I'm going to complain about stuff that doesn't make sense, at least to me. Several years ago I saw two articles in the local paper that completely contradicted each other and left me wondering what the hell is happening. First article says the overwhelming majority of people they surveyed don't support gay marriage. Then, right next to that, there's an article that says the overwhelming majority of people they surveyed dont' want to put a ban on gay marriage. Now I'm sure different groups of people were surveyed and maybe even in different areas but what a great choice of articles to place together. WE DON'T LIKE THAT CRAP BUT WE DON'T HATE IT ENOUGH TO STOP IT FOR GOOD...sorry gay people, have fun in eternal limbo or move to Canada, cause nothing changed. Or get to California. Isn't it great when the states get a hair up their ass and do whatever they want sometimes? And then it all gets overturned a month later, but still, fun while it lasted. Always seems to happen in the golden state, which makes it great when you're at the supermarket looking for the right brand of frozen orange juice and you hear discussion like, "CALIFORNYA has done nothing but destroy AMERICAN values and provide a breeding ground for sinners. Did you see where Jesus killed more Chinese cause they don't like him?" I bring up gay marriage cause there's this parallel that only I can see with how people view "da govament". When things are going great everybody wants the government to eat shit and not exist. But then when something goes wrong we come running! "Gas is $87 dollars a gallon, why doesn't the government do something for once and lower the gas price and help everybody by reaming the oil companies." Hey kids, good news, gas is down to $2 a gallon, but we think we're gonna look into some environmental regulations the oil companies might've broken that could result in fines. "NOW WAIT A MINUTE, YOU AIN'T GOT NO RIGHT TO TELL THEM HONEST, HARD WORKING ENTREPENEWERS WHAT THEY CAN'T DO. ANY MONEY THEY MAKE SHOULD BE THEIRS, AND NOT GO TO SOME WELFARE CHECK TO BUY DOPE WITH!" Wow, this got unreadable fast, but it was fun.

Now here's a comic series that I don't like for reasons I probably can't explain well and may not prove to be valid. And by series I mean issues one and two of Ultimates 2, because I couldn't force myself through any more. It's superheroes, but they're in the real world!

HOLY SHIT, THE REAL WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111112222222233333444445555555666666666777777

But wait mom, that doesn't really make sense does it? I mean, there aren't super soldiers or Norse gods running around outside. And guess what, ol' Johnny's right, there aren't! Don't tell Mark Millar though, because his whole foundation of life will crumble. In this real world, all the main characters are arrogant douchebags who talk a bunch, which makes drying paint look fascinating. Chief among them is Stalwart Steve Rogers, who is such a dumb prick in here it makes me want to run anywhere that has the Brubaker series and just masturbate fervently to its' contents. "People swearing is bad, all girls dress like whores, oh look, stereotypical thug black whippersnappers made a comment at me so this effectively placed cutaway shot will imply that I gave em' a whoopin cause I is awesome and they is dumz, lawlz." They've should've kept this asshole on ice. "Hey Thor, you have different opinion like Nazis and hang out in your opium rave den, so I will respond with punch." Oh but he's stopped by some obvious hipster protester Green Peace asshat who starts a beer assault on him...well sure. And I thought we couldn't get much lower than this A doesn't stand for suck. Here comes Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, on vacation floating through Italy. Then they get a phone call so they can show off their super snobbery, and imply that they like Europe, where everyone is a liberal cancer and should be thankful they exist because of Uncle Sam, but the guy that writes this is Scottish. Oh and Oprah is mentioned, and Tony Stark is on Larry King, because they're REAL PEOPLE IN THE REAL WORLD THAT THIS TAKES PLACE IN STARBUCKS. So to recap: superheroes are real, Captain America is written as a symbol of American elitism and arrogance and Pietro and Wanda are even bigger dipshits than the other people, cause they are all arty and hang out in Venice or something. So see, you can't single anyone out because they're all unrelatable AND unlikeable. Oh and Cap is teh narrowminded cause he thinks gods are dumb and he is a sucker cause he goes to church WHAT THE FUCK MARK MILLAR?

Good thing I only paid ten dollars for all thirteen issues, here I come ebay!

So...Much...Happening!

Information overkill is here. Communication and technology advances have made it so that anyone, anywhere, can know precisely what is going on with regards to practically any subject. Is this good or bad? Certainly the existence of so many possible opinions can open up many more avenues of discussion. Any online news gatherer will have countless reports on any one story. Not to mention all the new voices brought about by online forums, blogs etc. All these different sources can contain radically different opinions. But then comes the issue of where you pay attention. Do you try and find a single service that you feel is reliable, informative and unbiased? Or do you scan from site to site, thinking more about the general picture than any one specific author? Not to mention, in the era of everyone being able to say their piece, whose is really worth it? Let's face it, not everyone is an expert on the global food crisis or the recent Italian elections, myself included. However, it's funny how people who don't really understand the basics of an issue can help you perceive the particulars. So even in ignorance you find value. Other aspects include the lessening of local information mattering as much when we operate on such a global scale now and the saddening reality that even though more information is easily available, plenty of people are still greatly uninformed by choice or by extraneous circumstances. The amount of knowledge being released every day is completely exponential. This is one of a number of interesting 'problems' that have cropped up as we've hit stride in the twenty-first century. Right now we're in more of a transitional phase and it's likely by the time it's finished, I'll be dead. Maybe from info overload.

What I Learned in Murray

1. Being friends with someone and then living with them doesn't always turn out like you would expect.

2. Being denied privacy can piss me off. A lot.

3. Constant sound bombardment of any kind at volume levels that can be heard in the Andromeda galaxy does not cheer me up. Connection to be had with point number two.

4. World of Warcraft is God's gift to a jobless idiot.

5. My financial management, which I thought to be only average, reached lofty heights when compared to the people I was surrounded by.

6. If I have a serious dislike of someone, I cannot hide it very well.

7. Listening to the same song constantly does not ruin its appeal for some people, even if it was minimal to begin with.

8. Hardcore, metalcore and screamo can quit.

9. The word 'epic' is criminally overused.

10. Religion can take people and turn them into complete fools.

11. You shouldn't try to mod the inside of a Rock Band guitar.

12. Some people can't tell what's what on a motherboard.

13. Matt B. can make some excellent pizza.

14. The Wire is still the greatest television show ever, even on my third time watching it through.

15. Getting a job at USEC is about as plausible as winning the lottery.

16. World of Warcraft, while God's gift to a jobless idiot, turns out to be the same boring, endless grind two months later.

17. Someone exists who would rather listen to Nickleback than Opeth.

18. I miss going to Crash on Sunday.

19. Not having a job, even a crappy one, really weighs on me.

20. I love Paducah.

The Usual

I still haven't relocated to Murray yet because I had my plans disrupted by a possible job opening at USEC (United States Enrichment Corporation). It's high on the list of places I never pictured myself working at but also high on the list of places I'd want to work at. My cousin has worked there for several years and let me know they're hiring entry level positions and he could get my application pulled. Totally unfair but definitely worth going for. The only problem is the job currently isn't open and there's no time frame for when it will be. So I'm hesitant to move out and pick up some crap jobs and then have to drop everything to enter the hiring process. Tomorrow is my last foreseeable day at my current job, so I'm going to be needing to get some income going fairly soon. Unless the opening is sometime in the next week, I'll probably just move and see what happens.

I bought Rock Band a week ago and have spent a copious amount of time with it, the worst being 18 hours in one day. I've mainly been on the drums, which was what really attracted me to it in the first place and there's been no disappointment. The guitar is almost the same as Guitar Hero, but I can't do much on hard and I can't sing at all, so the drums are a good fit. Playing with a group is awesome, but solo play is pretty lame after you've gotten a band going with friends. Fortunately I've found plenty of willing participants. Everyone was ready for a break after the initial firestorm, so the Lords of Thunder and 88 Miles Per Hour are on sabbatical to explore India or something.

On the reading front, I haven't gotten into anything new. I checked out Brasyl from the library, a book that sounded pretty interesting, covering three different people in separate time periods, all in Brazil. Unfortunately, after the twentieth modern pop culture reference in the first thirty pages it went back to the drop box. I'm glad I didn't pay for it. Comics-wise, I still haven't bought anything in months besides Criminal, which has literally become the 'if I could only buy one comic' scenario. It's my wonder drug. I've been re-reading stuff from the shelf I haven't been through in a while, including Hellboy Volume 1, both Whiteout stories, Seaguy and the first War Stories collection. All pretty good stuff that held up. I got more out of Seaguy the second time around and Hellboy was even better than I remembered it being. Makes me want more and to finally get caught up on all the BPRD books. I wish Mike Mignola was still drawing interiors. With the pamphlets I'm slogging through stuff while at work so I don't have to pay for it. Favorites at this point are Captain America, The Order, The Immortal Iron Fist, All-Star Superman, The Punisher, Lone Ranger and Umbrella Academy. Morrison's Batman continues to be deflated by horrible artwork and Daredevil is good but I can't really get excited about it.

I bought Band of Brothers for hardly nothing on Cyber Monday and finished it this week. I had previously seen it sporadically on the History Channel, and I'm not sure if I ever saw all the episodes or if they were even in the right order. It was thankfully easier to keep up with the fairly large cast watching it in chunks. Overall, it's a very good account of WWII from a unit that participated in many famous events across several countries. The Battle of the Bulge in particular is very well represented, as Easy Company held position in the freezing cold of Bastogne, Belgium while under constant shelling by German artillery, unable to do anything but constantly take cover. Most of the experiences are historically accurate, even though if you want to get into the details, there's plenty to nitpick about. The show was based on a book that chronicled events from WWII veterans of E Company. The show focuses on Richard Winters, who started out as a lieutenant in Easy and ended up a major by the end of the war. He's portrayed by all accounts very true to life, a caring and quiet leader who also was tactically very sound. I enjoyed the whole thing.