Date:	2010-09-19 22:50
Subject:	The Wall
Security:	Public
Mood:	exhausted
Music:	"Wanted - Dead or Alive" - Bon Jovi

Yup, I was doing great writing all that stuff.

Then (I think) I hit the wall of disinterest.

Still, I accomplished a lot, though I don't know if I will ever get back around to finishing what I was working on. Still, one large and important story is done; the segway story from what I wrote last to that story is almost done. Not to mention another 12 pages of extra from a story further down the line.

I do have a feeling I will finish the segway story and edit both into (mostly) final forms sometime this week, I just thought I'd had done some of it this weekend, but everytime I sat down to write it was either hard to form the words or just not enticing. The 'hard time finding the words' started happening a few days back and I knew it was a sign my interest was slipping.

Still, not bad when you consider I thought I wasn;t going to come back to these stories after doing the first pair in Febuary.

- Battlemage15, - He's got Creative ADHD

Date:	2010-08-22 22:48
Subject:	How Cowboy Bebop Saved My Soul
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative
Music:	"Real Folk Blues" - Seatbelts feat. Mai Yamane

My avatars say it all... as does the name of my journal.

But, no matter how many times, no matter how long between them... everytime I watch certain episodes of Cowboy Bebop or the movie for it, I feel akin to how a true believer feels after a near-perfect sermon; renewed.

Some see Cowboy Bebop as good, others don't like it, some see it as the best anime of all time. For me, it goes beyond best anime; it is one of the greatest experiences I have had in my life and it may well have pulled me from the darkest place I've ever been to. It speaks to me on a level so deep, almost nothing can reach where it has. It's almost a clam, but excited feeling; like finding out there IS a God or a Heaven. It's that kind of emotional movement for me, every single time. I first watched the series during one of the absolute worst points in my life; I was at a crossroads that led to continuing on or quiting, period.

Cowboy Bebop showed me another way; a path less traveled, barely visible; a path of righteous apathy. I know life will suck and I am really sure when I die, it's all over; there is no next level. Everything we do means nothing, like a dream... life is but a dream, and when we finally wake up, everything we did in our dream no longer matters. It wasn't real.

However, Cowboy Bebop taught me righteous apathy, not plain old apathy. You do what is right and proper because it is right and proper. You can feel it in your gut. You work and try and achieve and do righteous deeds, no matter how small, because it flies in the face of giving up on life. You hope that your efforts make a difference in one other dreamer's journey, like Cowboy Bebop made a difference in my journey.

Some feelings are better than sex... seeing the Cowboy Bebop movie, knowing what to expect, but still getting that feeling I speak of... it is almost a life-affirming moment. I go through like like the Swimming Bird; I do not care, and yet, in the moment, I do. I do good deeds because I hope I can pass on to them what witnessing the life and end of Spike and the trials of those around him passed on to me. A serene knowledge of futility, with a silver halo of hope. My outlook changed to this when I watched the show; the movie cemented it there. For me, those special episodes and the movie are sermons on my form of faith; flawless sermons that will stand in my mind for as long as I have control of it. Cowboy Bebop saved my Soul.

That is either really sad... or realy quite incredible. I am inclined to think the later...

- Battlemage15, Are You Living In The Real World?

... there is Paragon Commander Shepard.





At the end of three, there will probably be a religion popular to multiple species that centers around worshiping of Paragon Commander Shepard. Considering the miracles he's preformed, the mercies he has shown and his incredible strength of arms as well as, you know, coming back from the dead, Commander Shepard would qualify.

Sometimes, you think of really funny things while taking a shower. This took like three minutes in paint.




-Battlemage15, Should stick to his day job

PS - To give the music I'm listening to context... a pannel from a comic about the opening mission of ME2.

Date:	2010-07-04 21:37
Subject:	Bonus Round! - Mass Effect 2
Security:	Public
Mood:	creative
Music:	"The Normandy Reborn" - ME2 Soundtrack

Summary:

Commander Shepard was killed... but even that can't stop a true hero. Shepard has returned, the vengeful Specter of Humanity to fight a new threat that has made itself known - human colonies are disappearing. Working (grudgingly with / with / for) the organization who brought (him / her) back, Shepard must assemble a team, secure their loyalty, find out what is behind this and stop it.

Something Noteworthy:

I did not finish the first Mass Effect. I got through about a fifth of the first one before I got fed up with the combat system. I ended up trading it in. The story was good, but it was too much of a number crunch and the combat was bad. It looked good, but the vehicle sections were dumb as hell. In the end, it didn't have enough going to keep me "in".

Mass Effect 2 is another story all together. Some of the side things are a little boring and the mineral scanning was downright tedious, but all in all ME2 keeps the action moving and continues to develop the story. Instead of an RPG, ME2 feels more like a Tactical Shooter with a story... and the tactics are kept light to keep things moving.

Positive Points:

The Story. The Story. The Story.

It draws you in and makes you care enough to keep you coming back for more. Humanity is under a shadowy threat and nobody is doing anything about it. Brought back from the dead (Shepard was a victim of said threat), it is your job to find out who is behind this, prepare for them and stop it. Period.

You work for the Illusive Man and his organization, Cerberus, which is something between an evil genius organization, a terrorist unit and a well funded human-interest group. The fact you are alive once more cost them billions.

From here, you begin by investigated a colony that recently went silent, meet a familiar face and discover who is behind the disappearances. Then you set out to build a team and do missions here and there to advance the main plot. Overall, the main story is short, but all the team-building keeps you gainfully busy. Plus, it is one of the more interesting parts of the game at times (this is a big part of the RPG aspect).

Finally, with a team assembled and all the info you can gather, you take the fight to the enemy. All in all, an excellent structure for an Action RPG.

Importing ME1 Shepard - This game really makes you feel like you have serious say in the overall story. Did Shepard save the council? The makes a HUGE difference in how things go for you early on the Citadel. While most of your deeds are recognized in radio, tv or in emails, some are pointed out in much bigger ways. This makes the game unique... and awesome.

Characterization and Interaction - The characters are great and the interactions stand out. The game gives you a reason to care about your teammates; you find out who they are and what makes them tick as you carry out their recruitment and loyalty missions. While you may not like everyone, many of the characters are likeable. Some are believable. A select few (Garrus and Tali in particular) are incredibly well done and can cause a blur in your emotions between real and fantasy.

Interrupts - Ever wanted to take an active role in a scene playing out before you? Now you can! This addition was one of the best things about ME2 and I wish there were more in the game. Interrupts really drive the moral system home. Want to push that dude out a window for not coughing up the info you need? DO IT! Want to stop someone from needlessly sacrificing themselves? DO IT! Interrupts almost read your mind and allow you to have some say in what happens when you are being talked to or watching something happen. In short, I LOVE these. They allow you to role play being a kind, humane and understanding Paragon or a total dick of a Renegade.

The Music - Some of it is really good. I particularly like the music during the final mission (Omega 4 Relay to the credits) and when you get the Normandy back.

The Combat - While not perfect, it is a big improvement. The shooting is mostly tight and much more responsive than the first game. The abilities you have are useful and the control over your team, while limited, works. The cover system in very well done. I like the idea of leading a small, elite commando unit tactical shooter and it works perfectly for the Mass Effect series. They got this right; it doesn't need many changes for ME3, just a few slight tweaks.


Negative Points:

Not Having a ME1 Shepard to Import - Playing as the games "default" Shepard kind of sucks; Bioware chose some of the more questionable decisions and everyone treats you like crap early on, not trusting you at all. I won't lie; I procured a save editor after I beat it the first time and played with the ME1 decisions to craft my ideal, 100% Paragon / 25% Renegade Shepard; the experience is different and a lot better when you bring in a ME1 Shepard... but since there is no way to pick and chose built in, and I don't want to play ME1 all that much, this is a demerit, be it a small one as it can be solved.

Animations - There are some small glitches and bugs... sometimes you can see through a dudes head, sometimes characters do the electric slide back to their spot once you are done talking to them; sometimes the head movement glitches for a second during a conversation and there is a little clipping on some characters (Miranda's neck and collar being a big offender). The uncanny valley is also present for some human characters (though Shepard is not so bad if you go with a default John or Jane sculpt).

RPG Elements - While it is an improvement from the overload of upgrades and skills in ME1, I think it went a little too simple. Somewhere is a happy medium. Perhaps more skill trees and more in depth level ups. I like the fact weapon upgrades are universal now, but I would also like the ability to upgrade each of your personal guns in one special way (such as an adjustable zoom scope for your sniper rifle, or extended magazines for you assault rifle). This item could be attachable and detachable at a work station on the Normandy.

Mineral Scan - Seriously... WTF? Who came up with THIS?!


"Made of Fucking Win" Points:

The Suicide Mission - Start to finish. This requires no elaborating; it just rocks that fucking hard. You are, after all, playing a leader and character's lives depend on your decisions and actions. It's a rush the first time you play it, trust me.

Loyalty Mission (Tali: Treason) - Wow... just, wow. The character interaction between Tali and Shepard, what you get to do and the possible impacts on ME3, brining Legion along, the voice work of Tali's actress for this segment and how FUCKING AWESOME Shepard can be as a Paragon. My favorite part of the game. A court trial is not new to a Bioware game (the first KotOR had one), but... this one is big if you keep an eye to ME3. How you handle this could be the second biggest decision you make in ME2 that will carry to the conclusion.

Interrupts - These again, but they deserve another mention. Some of these really steal the show. Throwing a dude out a window with a badass one liner, being allowed to pull the trigger on a sniper rifle while scouting an enemy, chastising two assholes giving a poor girl a hard time and being able to actually comfort a friend in need... all are excellent uses of the mechanic. I hope there are twice as many in ME3; these really stood the hell out from all the win you detect in the ME2 Sector.

Stolen Memory DLC - This catches a lot of flak, but I liked it. I really like Kasumi and I hope she is a recruitable character in ME3. Her loyalty mission was also a nice diversion and gives Fem-Shep a nice dress like to wear... yum. Plus, the Locust gives more weapon selection freedom on the Collector Cruiser to non-Soldier Shepards.

Mass Effect 3 - How in the hell are they going to make this? The possibilities of what happens at the end of the game are nearly endless, with who knows how many combinations of character living, dying and getting through loyal or non-loyal. Everything you have done will come to a head in this game, which will probably involve a galactic-scale war. I'm all ready saying in advance that ME3 will be Epic.

John Shepard - He doesn't often get love, but Default John Shepard is an awesome character. I enjoy playing as EA's poster child for the series. I can't explain it... I just think he looks cool is all. He looks like a futuristic hero and leader of men.

Tali,Zorah Vas Normandy - See below.


Overall:

Mass Effect 2 is, quite possibly, the greatest RPG of all time. It sure is the absolute gold standard for action RPGs. While it has a few flaws, the good things and out and out awesome things completely out-weigh them. When you beat the game it leaves you feeling like you've really experienced something special. That's something you just don't get often from games. It does help the characters are so great and the combat is entertaining. I loved every moment of ME2; it sucked me in like no game has in ages and had me playing into the wee hours of the morning more than once.

Final Score: 14 / 15


Extra Commentary:

Tali'Zorah vas Normandy is the best character in the game. She is the first major link Shepard finds to ME1, her interactions with Shepard feel the most emotionally genuine and her overall character makes her very likeable... and somewhat pitiful. Someone once compared the Quarians to the Palestinians, and I would like to add to that by echoing the line in The Siege, "They seduce you with their suffering". You know of their sins, struggles and shortcomings; of their fatally weak immune system and how they have been utterly shunned by the Citadel Races and preyed upon by the rest. Billions of them died; they are down to 17 million. Every Quarian you meet outside the fleet has it tough... and you seem to be able to help them all. Makes me think something is going on there for ME3.

Tali is no different. She describes life in her suit, the dangers of basic day to day tasks and of sensations she may well never know, such as the feeling of a flower petal on her skin. During her loyalty mission you watch Tali begin to spiral into the darkness of despair, used as a pawn in a much greater issue. It all took me in. I felt genuine emotions in my chest at certain portions of her loyalty mission; how the admirals ambushed her with the news of her father, upon seeing her react to finding her father and when hearing her beg Shepard not to shame her father to save her. I was almost outraged at what she was put through and wanted to speak very softly to her, even when challenging her views on the Geth; it made those moments unforgettable that Shepard's dialogue expressed those feelings for you in those ways.

I personally grew attached because she just seemed like the rest of her people; life's punching bag. She's the kind of girl you want to scoop up in your arms and rescue. She's easy to love. Bravo Bioware... you made people love a character whose face is a mystery. That's the true triumph. They made a character whose face you cannot see, but whose personality completely overcomes that limitation. Bioware came up with a character the protagonist can fall in love with without even knowing what she looks like.

Furthermore, Shepard x Tali is the most believable relationship in the game despite the racial divide. Tali has had a crush on Shepard since ME1 and here Shepard reciprocates. Simple, clean and completely believable. Everything else is simply getting around her immune system (or rather, lack there of). The interactions between them make you want to Dawwww.

Liz Sroka does an excellent job voicing Tali. She can really inflect and makes it known what Tali is thinking or feeling with just voice and Tali's body language (remember, no facial expressions).

While I'd have like to have seen her uncovered face, that's okay. Save it for ME3; it'll be that much more of a payoff to the emotional investment many people who enjoy the ME games have in her. Bet she's a space elf. Here, have the focus of an awesome peice of art I found online.

Date:	2010-01-16 01:30
Subject:	A Painfully Obvious Truth
Security:	Public
Mood:	sad
Music:	"Bullet With Butterfly Wings" - Smashing Pumpkins

Unless you've been living under a rock (or on the Dark Side of the Moon) you know that Haiti's capital Port Au Prince and many of the surrounding slums (that is the word for it, let's be realistic) now have more in common with a pile of Legos than civilization at the moment. Its a terrible disaster when a 7.0 earthquake hits a major population center in a underdeveloped nation: Its out of nowhere, its powerful and the damage to life and property is high.

However, the quake was just the disaster. Now comes the tragedy.

Supplies cannot and will not get through in time.

Yes, I know. The world has opened its arms and hearts to Haiti. All sorts of aid and supplies are on their way or on the ground in Haiti, but almost none of it will get through in time. How is that possible you may ask. The mightiest nations in the world are sending staggering aid and manpower to help; flight after flight and ship after ship are there, in the air and off the coast.

So close, but insurmountable far away. Tens of thousands of more lives away. Riots and murders over partly sums of food and water away. Infection and medical complication away.

All the water, medicine, food, personnel and kindness of the wide world, of nations mighty and meek, flowing into Haiti... and hitting a funnel so narrow only drips and grains of sand can slip through... a literal hourglass of life and death.

Haiti is not New Orleans. While aid was slow to arrive at the Big Easy, it arrived in a massive way by this hour; military convoys, continuous airlifts, buses upon buses, medical supplies enough to see an army through a bitter conflict and enough food to feed that army for months.

But New Orleans was on the mainland, not an island.
The nation it was a part of was left unharmed in most every key area.
Modern highway systems linked New Orleans to the rest of America.
Modern port facilities, built to weather disaster, were in place and functioning.
A large airport was present and in tact, ready to receive a full blown military air lift.
And there was warning, which allowed many to get out or at least brace for impact.

Only ineptitude slowed response, nothing else was wanting in the least.

In Port Au Prince, their only modern port is utterly decimated, unable to unload ships for all the cranes are destroyed. The very heart of the nation was decimated with most of the governmental buildings now in ruins, many officials dead. Haiti is an island nation and has no highway system connecting it to the world. The airport is small and ill suited for the job. There was no warning.

For all the excellent timing and execution, Haiti and Port Au Prince are what is slowing the effort. It is simply not meant to handle such an influx of supplies and people on a normal day, much less days like these. All the humanitarian might in the world simply cannot overcome the logistical and infrastructural nightmare that is Port Au Prince and Haiti at large.

Through no fault of the people of Haiti nor the fault of their determined rescuers will this effort end in utter catastrophe, but because of a simple lack of a larger air port, a functioning crane at the sea port, a highway system or something as utterly simple as flat, clear ground (so that helicopters might land or supplies might be stacked).

The terrain and lack of developed infrastructure itself is a funnel standing between the endless generosity of humanity and the incredible need of the people of Haiti.

So as darkness reigns for the forth time over Haiti since the world itself shook, the sand continues to run quick. Hope flickers and fades with each passing hour.

The people of Haiti cry out into the uncaring night "Where is the cavalry?!"

And I find myself looking out to the sea and I give this reply...

"Unable to get through."

- Battlemage15, Optimistic, but Realistic

PS -

The military outline for the 82nd Airborne says that they are to "provide security when the situation deteriorates"... yes, not if... When. That was a Pentagon official's own words. That is some ominous language from such a senior official.

Date:	2009-12-30 22:01
Subject:	Reality Killed The Video Star
Security:	Public
Mood:	sick
Music:	Muse - "Time is Running Out"

Who remembers music videos?

Who remembers good ones?

Who remembers them on MTV and VH1?

I do.

This is a sort of half-rant, half-lament with a dash of "History Paper" outline. Once upon a time not all that long ago, as late as the early 2000s, music videos were common. Every new album worth a damn had at least one for the big single. Some artists and groups were known for their excellent videos. Many were forms of art in just how obtuse they could be; others featured the band playing the song and little else while others still told you a story. They reflected creative talent and served to give image and action to song, especially for those lacking in imagination to come up with their own idea of what could be going on with that music in the background.

The seeds of the downfall of the commonality of music videos came about in the 1990s when MTV began running shows such as "Real World" and "Road Rules". Both of these are considered reality TV classics and gave rise to reality television gaining more and more market share on MTV. Soon, music videos were relegated to late night, overnight and early morning timeslots with the exception of Top-Whatever shows (TRL chief among them) set in daytime blocks (for students just getting out of school I would guess; saw a lot of TRL in the Summer Months). TRL was an elitist show; you have to be popular to get on, which meant votes, most of which from younger demographics who cared to do it.

TRL was primarily Rap, R&B, Pop and myriad forms of Rock. Big TRL names include the whose who of Boy Bands, Single Young Female Acts, and Rap Artists. Rock was common at first, but over time it fell by the wayside, always being beaten out by the aforementioned "usual suspects". I would only watch the first half because Korn, Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters and lick would rarely crack the top 5 for long. Which is sad; their videos were much more imaginative than most of the rap and girl pop ones (I will admit the Boy Bands had an eye for the extravagant, but we all know it was girls who had wet underwear at the sight of sound of those boy bands that put them there; my sister used to call herself Mrs. Timberlake).

Don't get me wrong; I'd have fucked most of the girls whose videos went into the top 5 (Britney looked good as a school girl, you better believe it).

Then things just got worse and worse. Shows like Cribs crept in, followed by Making the Band and a whole other bunch of reality shows. VH1 quickly became the bastion and MTV2 still stayed true to music videos, but as time went on VH1 ended up the home of the silliest, stupidest, most horrendous reality shows of them all (Flavor of Love anyone) and MTV2 became the rerun capital of the ungodly number of reality shows MTV had built up in it's catalogue.

I remember Fuse, a Canadian-based "MTV clone". They played a lot of rock and alternative, but they too began to fall into the trap of TRL formats and straight up music video's began to get marginalized there as well (meaning late night, overnight and early morning - the hours from 8 PM to 8 AM). BET did a lot for black artists (meaning mostly rap and R&B), but it too fell into the stupidity of VH1-style reality TV.

At this point in time, only VH1 Classic plays music videos with any regularity, and most of it is rock from the early 1980s to the early 1990s. This is cool, but what about the new stuff? Granted, of the music networks, only VH1 Classic bears any resemblance at all to the original MTV (and even then, only a modicum).

Go ahead, turn on MTV or VH1 right now. Odds say it is reality TV. I haven't seen Fuse in a long time and never watched BET, but have been assured they are the same. MTV2 was made to be oldschool MTV when MTV changed into the early form of what it is today, but now that MTV is 24/7 reality TV they needed a place to put the reruns; thus was the fate of MTV2. VH1 Classic is okay, but isn't nearly close to what the glory days were (or even the days of the downfall in the late 1990s).

These days a lot of groups and artists don't make music videos because there are so few outlets for them, the largest of them no longer running them in any manner remotely visible (I've been told there are days when MTV plays not one music video... and those days are common). There are so many new groups that don't even bother looking into making a video for their single and that is sad. That form of artistic expression has been cut off to them because reality TV is a cheap and easy buck to be made.

That said, there is a glimmer of hope. The internet is a massive medium through which to show off a bit of artistic talent set to a new single. Youtube is chock full of classic music videos and some groups release their videos on Youtube as well as in other mediums. Still, I don't think things will ever return to the way they were in the 1980s and 1990s. As the decade passes away in the coming days, give a thought to music videos; one of the fatalities of the waning decade.

And curse reality TV, the beast that may well be here to stay.

Battlemage15, Misses actual blocks of new music videos at an accessible time

PS – My nomination for the best music video of the decade (came out in 2003 and I was blown away by it; still am): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebfbjdF9K5o

PPS - Missed work today... not feeling well at all.

Date:	2009-09-20 23:18
Subject:	A bowl full of Disappoint-Mints in a Lawyers Office...
Security:	Public
Mood:	disappointed
Music:	"Burden In My Hand" - Soundgarden

And the Lawyer is like "Do you like Piranha Flowers?"

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

I bought Majesty 2 Thursday afternoon (I was home somewhat early from work and got it by way of Impulse, which is an excellent Steam-like service BTW, with the added benefit of not having to actually be online to play the games you have rightfully spent money on... if your 'net goes down, you can't play games you bought on Steam).

Majesty 2 is the sequel to one of the most unique strategy games I've ever played; you are basically the King in a D&D game and you use rewards you put on things to control your minions (ie, indirect control, like Dungeon Keeper, with less options to influence your dudes; there is no rally flag spell or possession spell). Your minions are heroes, all classic archetypes from high fantasy (warriors, wizards, rogues, rangers, clerics, elves, dwarves, etc) and as such they are only motivated by one thing - money.

Long story short, it was a great concept and a looks great, but Majesty 2 is incredibly difficult... like, stupid hard at times; imagine starting with the basics and having a Dragon fly over a light you up two minutes in... or a swarm of monsters and a boss monster popping up around your city constantly from the word go (and these are just the Advanced missions... the Expert ones are nearly unbeatable unless you follow a strict build order AND get a lucky break or two).

Majesty 2 is devoid of a scalable difficulty (no Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert settings... mission difficulty is what it is). There is also no Skirmish Mode and no Sandbox mode. It doesn't even come with a map editor out of the box.

In the first game, I loved playing in the Sandbox; you could set up invading creatures at certain intervals and even respawning monster lairs (not to mention all kinds of other special scenarios, including "Lich King" and "Dragon Attack"); you could generate a map and play in the sandbox, building your ideal fantasy kingdom. You could also go head to head against a comp-controlled kingdom (ie, another castle and group of heroes and guilds, just like you; a real war scenario, only with 20 heroes rather than 20000 soldiers).

So, that brings me to my question...

Have you ever had high hopes for a game, especially a sequel to a great game, and been completely let down by it. I could really use that 40 American back right now; Majesty 2 was not worth that much money.

You want a great game? Majesty Gold. $10 on Steam or Impulse. Yeah, it's graphics are dated and it doesn't have some of the in-game bells and whistles Majesty 2 has, but it's got a lot more variety and if you enjoy a casual game, you can get that too.

You want a better game?

Dungeon Keeper II - You can buy the CD-ROM of it, new, for $10 and pay $6 for shipping (you can also "look around" for it, if you got your peg leg and eye patch... if you catch my meaning, matey).

Now there is a game that lived up to how good the first outing was and it deserved a sequel (one was planned in fact; it was to be called Dungeon Keeper III - The Overworld War), but EA owns it now so, because it is a great idea, Dungeon Keeper III will NEVER happen.

Dungeon Keeper II has had few clones (Startopia is sort of like it, Evil Genius is basically Dungeon Keeper set in a 1960's Spy Flick, complete with jump-suited minions and comical Henchmen with names like Lord Kain, Crazy Ivan and Eli Barracuda), but nothing comes close to Dungeon Keeper II (okay, well, Evil Genius... it comes DAMN close to that level of fun).

I know I mentioned Knights & Princesses in my last post, but I haven't done much work on it... right now I've got indirect minion control games on the mind and I have a basic (read; barely any) idea of a "Dungeon Keeper" role-playing / card game. Yeah, I know, this one is also doomed to 10 pages-and-no-more as a Word File.

[Football]

In other disappointing news, the Cowboys lost. They need a new QB. Three picks (okay, two - that one off the foot was a fluke) is abissmal, especially considering how good the team was playing.

[/Football]

Yes, I will keep the Football to a minimum... I just kinda like it now.

Finally, I've come to a bit of a conclusion I should've embraced over a year ago... I need to go back to school. I'm looking at what it takes to become a Pharmacist... but I think it will just take too long. Either way, don't be surprised if I'm back in school in January... I just don't think a BA is gonna cut it in this modern era.

Which sucks, because that means every teacher I've ever had from 2nd grade to 12th grade either lied to me, didn't know shit or just didn't see the modern education requirements coming. I take that back actually, one teacher did warn us... that too many people were getting educations and it would cause requirements to go up. Way to go Mr. Thorpe, calling it in the air once again.

- Battlemage15 If Disappointment is an Element, he's an Elemental Mage at that...

Date:	2009-09-13 10:13
Subject:	Weekend Blues
Security:	Public
Mood:	drained
Music:	"Shattered Dreams" - Johnny Hates Jazz

Oh, where to begin...

Well, first off, my mother had the thing that allows dialysis put into her upper left arm. I wish I knew what it was called, but Wikipedia seems to have left that part of the treatment out, so I just call it "that thing in her arm". Very scientific of me, eh?

So, she's sitting in the recliner I love so much, sleeping on it, etc. All I really wanted to do this weekend was sit down in said recliner, watch TV and listen to music... but I can't. Nor can I complain because that would be wrong, but I find myself wishing the weekend would just go by so I can eventually get use of my favorite chair back. I can't stand sofas or dinky fold-out chairs (my other options; my computer chair is a fold out chair that gets uncomfortable after a couple of hours). I have a decent chair for console gaming (rather comfortable), but it's the difference between driving my Nissan Sentra and driving my sister's Acura TL.

I'm not eating all that well either. My diet the last two days was the following: Donuts, Pizza, Donuts, Pizza. Yeah, healthy. My mother is unable to cook and my dad can't cook. My sister can (sort of), but she's not home right now, as in all weekend (like usual). Now, I can look after myself, but my stomach has been on the war path since Thursday and I really don't want to go to the fast food well again. I can make something myself, and I'm going to, but what I really need is a good home cooked meal to get my stomach under control... but I'm not gonna get one.

My game collection, as massive as it is, is sorely inadequate at the moment and my latest acquisition is very meh. It is a completely forgettable RTS game that makes me wish I had the $25 I spent on it back in my pocket. Majesty 2 is coming between Tuesday and Friday, but I'm bored now. I tried playing Vice City again last night; should've left that one to the rose-tined lenses of yesteryear. It is still my favorite GTA title in terms of setting, character and story (plus lack of social calls; that killed GTA4 for me) and, though "remake" is a dirty word in some circles, Vice City's setting and mind-1980's time period deserve to be revisited. Yeah, San Andreas had better mechanics and GTA4 is a beauty queen in the looks contest, but Vice City had them dead to rights on story and setting.

Plus, I miss the Stinger in all the other games; that car rocked. Glass jaw, but fast as hell and stylish like a motherfucker.

Now, moving on from woe is me to a bright spot...

Review - Batman: Arkham Asylum

A few weeks back I purchased and beat Batman: Arkham Asylum. Believe the hype; it is the best super hero game ever made and may well be for a few years. There has never been a super hero game that made me feel like I was the hero until I played B:AA. They got everything right, from the stealth to the gadgets to Batman's overwhelming combat skills to the villains (characterization and all). The voice work was superb where it mattered (Batman and his Rogues Gallery) and good everywhere else. The mood of the game fell just short of Bioshock for me, but the fact I mention the two in the same sentence should speak volumes of the mood in the Asylum.

The patient interviews and Dr. Arkham's Records are bad ass (the second of which are hidden all over the place - when Batman finds the first one he has to decode it because it is the ghost of Amadeus Arkham himself speaking to you... yes, Batman's tech can decode ghost speak, fuck yeah). Finally, my favorite part - Scarecrow. His portions, where you are hit with the Fear Gas, took me right back to the sanity effects of Eternal Darkness, a game never given enough credit for the atmosphere and mood it set as well as how amazing the the sanity effects were (plus, ED was generally a good game with good gameplay and a good story - we give all kinds of played out concepts and crappy games sequels, but nobody has made one for ED, a game that truly deserved it).

If you got some serious cash ($60) burning a hole in your pocket and you have a next gen system, I highly recommend Batman: Arkham Asylum, especially if you are a Batman fan. There are so many more good things I could talk about here, but it would take hours. It's that good.

/Review

If anyone has spoken to 'Sand, she may have told you I'm working on a couple of game systems right now. They are titled "Cloak and Dagger" and "Knights and Princesses". I am also having a hell of a time making forward progress on these games. You see, I want them to be simple games anyone can get online (free of course) and give a go. They are rather freeform and the intention was to keep them rules-lite.

Problem is, I just can't seem to keep myself from cramming complexity into them. I love D&D 3.5 and other d20 systems and they have a whole lot of rules and creation possibilities. I naturally get them; I like them a whole huggy bunch. Problem is, what I want to make is supposed to be easy to play and run, using more role playing and imagination then roll-playing and rules.

What I am trying to do is make version of the J-RPG "MAID" that a group of insecure guys can play in (in MAID you are a anime maid who works for a master and romance is a big part of the game; well, insecure guys don't like playing a woman who is chasing the affections a man, do they? A popular version of MAID with guys is female maids and a female master; seeking the approval of a female, even in the guise of a female, is more appealing to guys like that... and it's hot). As for me? I could care. Insecurity is not an issue with me, especially when you put it in the context of a freaking RPG.

Anyways, MAID is a rules-lite game with easy creation rules (it can all be done with random dice rolls; there is even a online character generator for it - push button, receive maid). It looks fun to me and has an interesting premise, so I decided to flatter it by making K&P.

In Knights and Princesses the players take on the role of a Knight seeking the hand of a Princess (who can be playable as well). This is done through the gathering of Prestige and Favor. There are different kinds of Knights who excel at obtaining Prestige and Favor their own ways, but in general they will have to interact with each other and work together because they are the Knights of the Princess as well as her suitors. Favor comes from wooing the Princess, but Prestige comes from winning the approval of the Royalty (be that the King, Queen or even the Advisor of the Princess, ruling in her stead until she is married). The end goal is to have enough Favor and Prestige to earn the hand of the Princess in marriage, in effect making the Knight the new King (not how it actually worked, but this is fairy tale style fantasy here people).

Last night I made some progress; I threw out a lot of what I was doing with K&P (Knights and Princesses) because it was too rules-laden and too clunky (plus I was running out of ideas to make it work) and I have begun work on the rule set, hammering out how Favor and Prestige are gathered and in what amounts. I will soon being work on core game play rules (tests, contests and combat) and I will eventually make the Military Engagement rules.

Then, I will do character creation (Knights, Princesses and Servants / Squires), followed by the Royalty and Palace creation rules.

From there, I will assemble the items list (from healing potions to enchanted weapons and armor to special items like the "Black Cowl", which allows a Knight to take on the guise of the "Black Knight")

Then, I will create a bestiary of creatures and monsters for the valiant Knights to slay to earn the approval of the Royalty (ie, Prestige).

Finally, I will write up a couple of sample campaigns and nations that can be used to help the GM.

My goal is to have Knights and Princesses done sometime this year (yeah, I know - long time). I'm going to try a few games of it out to see if it is balanced (or even playable and fun) and if I like it, I'll probably throw it online for free. If I REALLY like it, I will commission a cover picture for it on Deviant Art (a Princess's delicate hand holding a kerchief, the symbol of a maiden's favor, before six open hands, gauntleted or gloved, each one representing each type of Knight, from the Paladin to the Courtier).

- Battlemage15, Amature Game Writer

Date:	2009-07-10 23:18
Subject:	"Cycle Theory"
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative
Music:	"It's Not Over" - Daughtry

Let’s have a philosophical discussion of sorts.

At the moment, I have an almost all encompassing obsession with human nature, God, the purpose of life and the prospects for life after death. To clarify, I wonder if humans are just animals or something greater, if God really exists or is a construct of a lonely, frightened and very much stupid species in need of an explanation for that which they could not comprehend, if life is just an accident or purposeful in some way and, probably most important to me, if we are just finite beings or if there is something after we pass from life for us that allows us to remain sentient.

Considering my age, this is an interesting internal debate I am having. I have lost sleep and motivation over it; the idea of death, though a natural one be far away, really eats at me.

Thursday morning I was eating my breakfast, uncooked pop tarts a dinky cup of water when I contemplated a homeless couple, tried and sad and soon to be baking in the 100+ degree heat (and being very thankful for my food to the point I almost prayed over it), when something struck me. Something I found, and still find, incredibly profound… a philosophy that deals with most of my questions; an idea, founded in the social, natural norms of the vast majority of human society and perhaps enforced by religious history and modern ideas.

My Philosophy on the Matter of Humanity, Life’s Purpose and God

It has been said that God created humanity and God is the Father. It has also been said that we came about by evolution over millions of years and we almost universally call nature Mother Nature / Mother Earth.

- God is the Father and Nature / Earth is the Mother.

Fathers must be strict, Mothers nurturing; when humanity was first becoming “civilized” in the Old Testament God was wrathful and vengeful, punishing humanity for breaking His rules… like a father does. Mother Nature, however, tends to provide for humanity in most places quite well. When She loses Her temper it is also terrible to behold and teaches humanity important lessons.

- God, the Father, punishes and has authority (do this or I will punish you; do that and I will punish you); Nature, the Mother, provides and teaches important, if sometimes painfully simple, lessons (don’t build on flood plains).

As children grow and learn, they are trusted to look after themselves more and more. They must learn to make their own choices, must determine what is right for them, must provide for themselves and must look after themselves. Humanity has advanced mostly steadily to the point of great knowledge and understanding and the ability to manipulate our surroundings and grows vast quantities of food, purify water, build shelter, etc

- Humanity, the child, must learn important lessons, learn to care for themselves and eventually grow up in general (that’s why the sky is blue; so this is how we can create food; hey look, we now venture out to see the wide universe ourselves now and then).

Children eventually strike out on their own, Young Adults, and must make their way in the world. However, their parents are always there for them… and should still be respected, but not listened to blindly. You were told many things were wrong as a child only later to find out there is a serious gray area in most all things.

- Humanity, the young adult, can support itself mostly and is experimenting with what it knows and what it can do. Something things, Mom and Dad were right about, some things not so much and others still were to protect us until our judgment could safely see us through those activities (for instance, homosexuality could be bad when the species is in very limited numbers, but now there are plenty of us to keep the species going so now luxuries such as love can take precedence; we still have to relearn simple facts like not building on flood plains and perhaps should respect our Mother a bit more, meaning cutting back on pollution; we also still don’t look after each other all that well and have trouble playing nice in some cases)

Young Adults eventually become Adults, wise in the ways of the world or at least experienced enough to make an educated decision. Adults usually have children of their own and begin the cycle anew, but they still visit their parents now and then and still respect and love them and ask for advice when needed.

- Humanity, the Adult, creates advanced, self-aware Artificial Intelligences and places them in advanced robotic bodies. Cloning and genetic engineering also lead to sub-species of humanity that are also self aware. These are the grandchildren of the Father and Mother, who love them but are not responsible for them. Humanity also begins to really respect itself by looking after the less fortunate, keeping the infighting to a minimum and perhaps even meeting a peer or two in the vast universe.

In conclusion, humanity and human life is the same as the life of a human child to adulthood. Early on we needed a firm hand, but as time passed we learned and needed less and less supervision (miracles are much less common these days because things that would be considered a miracle in the early days can now be done with science, medicine, etc). Eventually, we learned we could do things we were told not to; that it wasn’t that bad now that we were mature (homosexuality a no-no in the crucial, early years where numbers were low; now it is fine as there are more then enough of us to continue forward). However, even as adults with our own children (who will have their own issues with us to be sure) we will still respect our parents, God (with His simple rules like don’t kill each other and do what’s right) and Nature (our provider early in life who we now take care of against our own stupidity).

And your parents eventually leave you… but, by then, you should know what you are doing or at least have a clue or two. Mistakes will be made, but usually things turn out okay. Then eventually, we too shall pass and the grandchildren of God and Nature, advanced AI driven ‘bots and perfected human clones (immune to all diseases, long long lives, etc) will carry on for us.

The revelation was like a ton of bricks to me… this thing down here, life… it’s a mirror image of the grand scheme. It was our clue, right under our noses all along. The nature cycle of humanity and indeed many living creatures is a scaled down version of the universal law. We look like our Father, are fruitful like our Mother and often times act like both.

This may seem silly or strange, but this… this idea, this philosophy, put me at ease. Wrong or not, to me it is a sensible, educated answer to what I am seeing, have been told and what my gut says.

Right now we are teenagers, we think we know it all but we know shit. We rebel against our Father and take our Mother for granted. However, they will stick it through until we grow up and realize what the hell we were thinking. Then, and I think we were raised well by our parents, we will get our act together and make something of ourselves in the world (the universe).

As of for God becoming more touchy-feely later… well, I think everyone’s dad’s mellow out over time and also trust you more to do what’s right. Plus, after a certain age, you don’t spank your kids anymore; you let them learn from their mistakes.

I call this philosophy, this way of viewing the world, the “Cycle Theory”.

As of for when we die… well, we say we go to join our ancestors. We go to our Father and our Mother (soul to learn more, body to feed Mother’s many creatures).

Or at least, that’s a nice thought…

The best part is, however, that this idea, my “Cycle Theory” centers heavily on bettering humanities lot in the world by looking after our poor, or mentally limited and being kind to one another. We must help the species, not hurt it; we must advance ourselves in as many ways possible. We must look after our Mother and heed some of the advice, the wise advice, of our Father.

And even if it is just us, just a fluke of probability and chemistry, at least we make a better world for the next generation and looked after the needy in our time, which can only better humanities lot. We must all contribute what we can, God or no God. That’s the real point of “Cycle Theory”; divinity or none, eternal life beyond death or damning blackness, we MUST advance our species.

We are all a single bullet in the battle; we must make our one shot count…

- Battlemage15, Philosopher

Date:	2009-05-14 23:04
Subject:	Now For Something Interactive...
Security:	Public
Mood:	creative
Music:	Rebel Yell by Billy Idol

Have you ever sat down with a game and played it and within a short stretch of time you found yourself saying "WTF? I could have done this better!"

It's Yahtzee's arguement that game companies these days make mediocre games because they make more money (or are at least less risky and thus can make more money in the long run) then a really good or unique game?

Who rememberes Eternal Darkness and wishes they (Silicon Knights) would make another one? I sure do remember that gem and wish a sequel or another game in that setting would be made, but no... too unique, too risky. Let's stick to modern rpg (western and J / traditional or tactical / you name it) bullshit, Halo clones and the tried (or is it tired) and true (or is that through) franchises we can just slap another number or subtitle on (Zelda, Resident Evil, Call of Duty, etc, etc).

Anyways, back to the topic.

Once upon a time, I played a game for the 360 called Operation Darkness. It read like some B-movie wet dream from the mind of a history major who liked his anime a little too much. A unit of English SAS Werewolves infiltrate Germany and fight Hitler's army of nazi vampires, nazi zombies, nazi dragons and mecha-nazis. The SAS is aided by the grandaughter or Van Helsing and a reformed Jack the Ripper... and a nazi tank-robot thing that defected to the allies due to an error in his programing. It is a tactical RPG.

This game should ROCK. SAS Werewolves vs. Nazi Vampires? Hell yeah, that could be cool... if done right.

The game's camera was horrible, the voice acting very bad and it is probably the ugliest 360 game ever. All of these things, on their own, would not be a big problem (annoying camera maybe, considering just how bad it was in this case). However, all three taken together killed the game for me. The camera made it next to impossible to play the game and the voice acting and graphics combined kept you from getting into the game.

Sad thing is, these are simple flaws. A decent camera is not hard to come by (hell, 45 degree isometic would have been servicable), you can find decent voice talent these days for a fair price and graphics... well, now a days, that's a given; while not neccessary, they can only help if done right.

Then, the game did the one thing you'd never think a game about SAS Werewolves with the help of grandaughter Van Helsing and Jack the Ripper fighting Nazi (Vampires, Zombies, Dragons and Mecha) could do, even if it tired... it got tedious and boring. Despite how unique the game was, it managed to make itself a chore to play... with a shitty camera and last-gen graphcis, supplimented by terrible voice acting.

Needless to say, I would have hired decent anime voice actors, invested a bit of time and money into better graphics (at least uber top end PS2 level - see God of War) and made a better camera a priorotiy (the camera is so important in all types of games it's just not funny, yet plenty of studios just seem to... forget).

The harder part, keeping it interesting, woudl be easy for me. I am Mr. Over The Top as it is. I have three speeds; Normal (infiltrate this French Chateau, dirty dozen style), Epic (Patton's 3rd Army is slugging it out with the Nazi mecha's, led by a Vampire Lord Tank Ace piloting a Mark VI "Tiger" Trasformer thing and and you are called upon to take out said leader, all the while amonst the Shermans and mecha, killing the hell out of each other; you must succeed lest the brave 101st at Bastogne, mortals all, be overrun by Nazi zombies) and HOLY SHIT (Greater Demon summoned into downtown Berlin after the successful sacrfice of four million innocent Jews as the Red Army enters the city; the entire Soviet Army will be whiped out if you cannot get through the Demon's 12 vampire bodyguards and, did I mention that Hitler is also there... in a mecha that would make a Gundam look like weak sauce? Oh, and your bazookas have been replaced by these... "Made in the USA" man portable railguns THAT SHOOT FUCKING LIGHTING-CHARGED STEEL I BEAMS?)

When you have nazi dragons, how do you run out of ideas?!

*erm*

So, what games have you played that made you say "WTF? I could've done this better!" or at the very least "Wow, these guys had a promising idea and really dropped the ball."

- Battlemage15, Three-Speed Story Teller - Normal to Epic to HOLY SHIT

PS - This was inspired by the Zero Punctuation "reveiw" of Valkyria Chronicles, a game about Europan Youths joining the army to turn back the army of Bremeny... it also had a lot of promise for a WWII JRPG and could've been a lot better.

Date:	2009-05-03 05:41
Subject:	What and Why?
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired
Music:	Beautiful - 10 Years

Just got home and it is 5:40 AM. I'll explain in the morning, but let's just say I had an interesting 11 hours today and yesterday.

Edit:

Okay, so here is what happened (BTW, I just woke up about two hours ago).

I was watching TV at my parent’s house when my right arm suddenly started tingling like it had just woken up from being asleep. I stood and my right leg started doing the same. I went to the kitchen, called my parents (who were out) and took an aspirin because I seriously thought I was in real trouble.

My leg stops tingling after two minutes, but the right half of my lips start, then the right half of my tongue. My arm and mouth keep tingling for about two more minutes, my finger tips doing so for about six more minutes. My parents get home, we have no idea what happened and they decide I need to see a doctor. We go to the Medical Center and end up staying there for 11 hours in all. After blood, and EKG and a CT Scan is taken, a neural specialist figures out what happened.

It turns out my arm and hand acted up because I apparently have Carpel Tunnel Syndrome in my right wrist. The thing with my legs and mouth was something I vaguely remember the doctor explaining to me that boils down to "You thought it was a heart attack, so your breathing went funny and a chemical imbalance caused by all that caused those areas to tingle".

So, I now need a special wristband for my right hand. I spent 11 hours waiting in an emergency room to find that out. I'm not really mad about it or upset, but I do dread the bill.

Also, while I was there, four ambulances came in in quick succession. I saw two of the stretchers carried out with blood on them (one with a little, the other covered and with yellow stains from what I figured was a lot of iodine). Apparently there was a wild party off of Grissom road and some Homies and some Vatos had it out. With Guns. When we left there were some gang members and some SAPD officers in the parking lot having a discussion because their member was alive in the hospital, but at least one on the other side was dead; his mother was freaking the hell out in a side room when we left.

Also, Channel 4 isn't so bad at night. SNL is kinda meh, but they have lots of Law and Order on and I re-discovered how much I like that show. At least I got out of there before paid programming started.

So, I'm fine. I probably wont' have to pay the bill being unemployed and all most likely. However, this does bring me to my main point.

I am now, after watching some of those people wait hours to be seen for fairly serious stuff (vomiting blood, broken shoulder, babies with high fevers) I can honestly say I am 110% for government doing something about America's healthcare system. I always have been for that, but when my dad (who is not a fan of Obama at all) says "You know what; you're right, Obama needs to do something about this" and my father and I have a good, constructive discussion about possible solutions that we both can generally agree with, I know what we saw is fairly profound. Think about it; nothing was wrong with me at all, but there were people there with serious issues waiting... for over 10 hours.

And according to the staff, that was a very slow night by normal standards and a miracle by Saturday night standards. Aside the occasional car accident and the gang fight, they said cases were moving fast that night. Yes, 11 hours for a possible heart or neural condition is fast.

So, something has got to change.

Battlemage15, Has a clean bill of health

PS - I suspect my carpel tunnel is more from jacking off a lot then computer use...

Date:	2009-04-25 03:31
Subject:	Bonus Round! - Resident Evil 5
Security:	Public
Mood:	contemplative
Music:	HUNK's Theme (Mercenaries) - Resident Evil Four

Summary

In the year 2009, in the heart of Darkest Africa, two Anti-Bio Terrorism agents fight to keep bio-weapons out of the hands of terrorists only to become embroiled in a pitched struggle to save the world and bring harmony to Chris Redfield’s troubled past.

Something Noteworthy:

Here is a confession. I am an absolute pussy when it comes to “scary” shit. I HATE horror movies: When I was a kid, Beetle Juice scared the hell out of me. I never played Silent Hill because I saw the beginning (noises, fog, etc) and it broke the deal; too scary. I had moments I couldn’t go forward for a while playing Eternal Darkness because the sanity effects freaked me the fuck out. I didn’t finish Bioshock because of how freaky / startling the wax covered people were in the theater portion (I just couldn’t force myself into a situation in which the lights would go out then come back on and the wax people would come to life).

But RE4 was such a GOOD game I got through those moments just to see what was next. I went into places blindly, I went into the Garridor’s cell to pull the switch and I dealt with the Regenerators. I wanted to see more and that allowed me to overcome my general fear / dislike for “horror” moments. This is why I think so highly of my experience with RE4. It allowed me to overcome general dislike / fear of “horror moments / surprises” to keep moving because I enjoyed the game so much.

So, with this is mind, RE5 will be heavily compared to RE4.

Positive Points

RE5 is brings back two of the three ideas that made RE4 such a great improvement over all the Resident Evil games that came before: Over-the-shoulder viewpoint and the combat system. Five also stays true to many of the smaller elements that made Four so much fun, like swarms of “zombies” (called Majini this time around), interesting boss fights and treasure hunting elements. The music and voice work are also on par with Four (which is to say, mostly good).

RE5 also improves on RE4 in some ways. The enemies are generally more challenging this time around (larger hordes, tougher mini-bosses, more “surprise!” monsters when you kill a zombie), the game is beautiful to look at and your choice of weapons (and upgrades for them) is considerably wider than Four.

This time around RE5 brings some new kinds of variety to the game, including traversing a marsh on a fan-powered swamp boat and some rail / turret shooting sequences. As mentioned before, there are a lot more monsters this time around, leading to in increased variety in the fights you will get into (or try to avoid).

Overall, considering the very complex and convoluted past of Resident Evil, RE5 does an admirable job in bringing it all together (namely everything but Four and the events of Four) and finally brings the story to a close (though I doubt this will be the last RE game we see, mark my words).

Negative Points

Resident Evil 5 is not all milk and honey, however. It has a mixture of problems that make the game feel like two steps forward, one step back. For one, it keeps and nearly triples (by my estimate) the Quick-Time events from RE4 that I mostly disliked. There are a lot more ways to die this time around if you don’t push the right button at the right time. The knife fight with Krauser in RE4 was aggravating, but there are moments in RE5 that made me long for that level of clam.

Also, I mentioned that Resident Evil 5 did two of the three things that made Four better then the earlier titles. Well, the third they did not do and instead went back to the older, much worse system. Yes, I speak of the Inventory System.

No single thing really annoyed me more about Five then the Inventory System. You get nine boxes to put items in. Each weapons takes a box as does each armor (you need two sets of armor if you want complete protection, as one is for melee, the other bullets; fun). First ad sprays and herbs also take up one space each, but eggs do stack to an extent. Ammo and grenades also stack. Gone is the attaché case that made Resident Evil 4 so fun and back is the old inventory system that made every other Resident Evil, including Five, frustrating.

There are also unintuitive moments with items. For example, you cannot put a grenade in your inventory down so you can pick up a red herb to combine with your green herb (thus taking one space, which would re-open a space for the grenade). No, you must “Discard” the grenade for all time to do so. You can’t use a healing item on sight rather than pick up like you could in Four, which is also aggravating. Why can’t I just pick up an egg and eat it off the ground or put something on a nearby table while I conduct a little alchemy with the herbs? It just doesn’t make sense.

I get the inventory system is there for a number of reasons. For balance purposes (if you could stack, say, 5 first aid sprays, that would be a little broken), to bring back some of the “hard choices” on items you will carry / pick up / use that RE4 basically did away with once you got a XXL Attaché Case and to foster complimentary load outs and teamwork between Chris and Sheva. However, my understanding the why does little to make it any less annoying when a game tells me a small green plant takes as much space as 150 AK-74 bullets.

Finally, I will touch on the subject of length. Resident Evil Four was, on a typical play through, a roughly 16-20 hour game. Perhaps longer for some (like me, who hunts down ever little gem and treasure). However, and this is a fact so one can have a good indicator, in order to unlock infinite ammo for the rocket launcher, you must beat the game in under 5 hours. That’s right; it is possible to get through the game without infinite rockets in the time it would take me to drive from San Antonio to Dallas. In short, the game is just that; too short. The quick-time deaths and bullshit boss / mini-boss moves make the game artificially longer, most likely on purpose.

Something Special

Everyone and their mother complains that Sheva will stupidly pick away at the enemy with her handgun while sitting on a ton of ammo for another gun she is carrying. Yes, you are absolutely correct; she does just that. Sheva will use her handgun in preference to just about anything else, no matter what. She will hunt ammo down for her handgun over pulling out another gun. This all may be a strange glitch.

However, many of these complainants whined about this as if nothing could be done. Out of curiosity, I experimented after Chapter 1-1, when I was allowed unfettered access to Sheva’s inventory. Follow this five step chart I have created:
1) Go into Item Management after the Chapter 1-1.
2) Take Sheva’s 92F Handgun away and SELL it.
3) Take the bullets for yourself.
4) Give Sheva the VZ-61 SMG you find in Chapter 1-1 along with any bullets for it.
5) PROFIT!

The game will consistently hand you a new machine gun as you play through (one in chapter 1-1, one in 2-1, one in 5-1 and one in 5-2) and ammo for these weapons is the second most common type behind handgun ammo. To me, it is a no brainer.

This brings me to the crux of this section.

Sheva is a competent fighter, very useful overall and a generally interesting character. She is smarter than many people give her credit for, isn't as gung-ho with the healing as she is made out to be and won't stupidly shoot the giant crab monster of the moment with her handgun if you don't let her have one (and will wail on him with a Grenade Launcher if you are man enough to let a woman have a phallic compensator bigger than yours). If you let her keep her handgun (and never upgrade it, which I suspect also happens a lot), don’t bitch when she uses it. It’s that simple.

On top of everything else, Sheva is probably more on the ball than you are when it comes to unseen enemies. Being controlled by the AI, she kind of “knows” where enemies are (which are also AI controlled), allowing her to shot an enemy off screen you never saw, dropping him and saving you a whole lot of grief.

Now, this isn’t to say Sheva doesn’t cause you some grief. She will die now and then because of the AI (hung up on a box on a conveyer belt going into a furnace or firing at something you’d rather not get the attention of like six Licker Betas).

Sheva is not perfect, but overall I like her, both as an AI partner and as a character. I honestly love having her there and would love it more if she was played by someone else, but the AI does in a pinch (you can also curse the AI when it fucks up without any form of relationship repercussions). The partner aspect does add a lot to the game either way and, words of the wise, if you co-op the game stick together; separating will lead to someone dying.

Overall

Resident Evil Five is a game of many great aspects and a few flaws, but overall it is almost as good as Four was when it came out. Side by side, Five is overall the better game, but when you take into account what each game does for the series, Four is the better of the two. If you can get over the inventory, deal with the quick-time events and exercise a little grey matter when dealing with your AI partner (read: take her handgun away and give her a fucking machine gun), you will enjoy RE5 very much. The story is good, it wraps the series (as we know it) well and the game play is fun. I recommend it to any fan of the series as well as anyone who liked Four (and just Four; you know, like me). If you enjoy action games and survival horror games, you will also like Resident Evil 5.

Final Score: 11.5 / 15

Extra Commentary

Maybe I’m wired to look for stuff like this, but seriously, where the hell is this game taking place? It screams Sierra Leone or Liberia, but the language says wrong coast for that. It obviously happens in a coastal nation that is a little war torn and where the people speak Swahili.

It also takes place in the only African nation I (don’t) know of where the population is half black, a quarter Arab and a quarter white. Did is also mention the tribals, the swamp land and the oil fields? You know Capcom, I liked the fact I knew where RE4 was happening (Spain... or Sapin if it makes Capcom feel comfortable; inside joke) and Raccoon City supposedly is somewhere in Pennsylvania (I always assumed it was in Colorado *shrug*), but now RE5 has me really confused.

Capcom, grow some balls. Make the places real ones. Also, if you are going to set a game in "Darkest Africa" then do it. Don't water down the population's racial makeup to cover your ass. That would be like making "Black Hawk Down" again, but making 1 in every four of the people of Mogadishu white and 1 in 4 Arabic, leaving only half the population black.

If I go running through an African hellhole gunning mother fuckers down, odds on they will be black. If I go running through downtown freezing Moscow shooting it up, odds on the people I'm killing will be white. Downtown neon Tokyo / "red" Beijing, Asian. Downtown warzone Fallujah, Arab. Only in western European nations and America will I run into a mixed bag of skin tones and ethnic makeup (okay, Mediterranean Africa and South Africa might have some variation) and here is the kicker; I'm willing to run through any of those killing everything when everyone is a fucking zombie / ganado / majini / monster.

So, don't break setting just because someone points and goes "OMG RACISM". Black Hawk Down got that shit. Know what the response was? "98% of Somalia's population is black. The truth is the fucking truth, now GROW UP!" It would be like marines landing on Iwo Jima in a WWII movie and half of the Japanese soldiers sent against them were not Japanese. Does that make any sense? NO!

However, just because I am apparently enlightened and not racist doesn't stop me from saying some very "colorful" things when playing RE5 mostly relating to "White Man’s Burden" and that burden being either 12 gauge buckshot (for bad guys) or semen (for Sheva). The second one is probably more of my perceptions of women in the video game world (encouraged by said game; your first time meeting Sheva, the camera is focused on her ass; a minute later, she is frisked by a guard and, yup, he makes a grab for her ass. Later still, a cut scene starts focused on her cleavage. So, if you don’t like me sexual comments about Sheva, all I can say is “Don’t hate the player, hate the game”).

=Tangent Alert=

Also, Leon is a badder mother fucker then Chris. That’s right, I said it.

Every moment in the game Chris could’ve done something cool or put the bad guys on serious notice, he passed it up. The man is built like a brick shithouse now, but he never made a serious flourish of “I fucking rock”.

Leon Scott Kennedy shot a dude’s hearing pipe after stopping himself from being impaled, hurled his knife into the same guy’s hand after growing tired of the banter, went twelve rounds with a Predator (Salazar’s Right Hand) and Nessy (Del Lagos) and held his own in a knock down, drag out knife fight with Jack Krauser (also of the “Brick Shithouse” school of character construction). Not bad for a pretty boy who never whined “Oh no, they think I’m expendable”.

To top it off, Leon had little if any help. Mike and his gunship? Chris got the same thing (Kirk and his RPG-gunner in door). A bad ass partner? No, Leon got a whiny teenage girl that was more detriment then help (and before anyone mentions Ada, she helped him because she’s wanted to smoke his trouser snake since RE2; plus, she ends up fucking him over as often as she helps him). How about fighting El Gigante? Leon and Chris did it. The difference? Leon did it on foot, on three occasions (once a two v. one) while Chris did it once from behind a .50 Cal while Sheva was helping from behind a fucking mini-gun. I don’t care if Chris and Sheva took on Wesker or the legion of monsters, Leon pulled off similar, if admittedly lesser feats, but did so without the help of an orbital laser, a dozen RPGs and a partner in crime.

Leon Scott Kennedy is a true guts and glory, balls the size of basketballs hero.

And I bet, given the chance and because of all the pent up rage the guy probably has from his seemingly unending string of bad luck (especially with women) he’d fuck Ada Wong’s lights the hell out so hard the electrics at The Agency would flicker and falter each time she climaxed. And considering the way Ada acts around him, you know she’d let him.

Ada has a bad "La Femme Nikita" thing for Leon... Ada is also a Chinese-American Nikita, in case you are curious. Check Residetn Evil Wiki / Ada Wong. You'll get the picture fast.

Deep down, I think it's a nice little love story.

- Battlemage15, Yes, my scoring system is “Out of 15”… see the name.

Date:	2009-04-24 00:43
Subject:	Bah Humbug
Security:	Public
Mood:	irritated
Music:	Creep - Radiohead

I hate the city government now. My old job wants me back because the jackoff they hired instead of me "didn't work out". More like "didn't want to work at all" is more accurate from what I've heard. They have done all the paperwork they city could dump on them and very plainly made the case that the position cannot go unfilled until October 1, but as far as everyone knows, the city has adopted the "ignore it and it will go away" stance.

Moving on, lots of applications in with UTSA, US Government, other universities and some fairly large companies (Time Warner, DeVry University, others) and small places around where I live, but nothing ever comes up. I've been to two job fairs in the past month and nothing from those either (I hate job fairs, BTW; a lot of places go, but don't accept applications or resumes on site, tell you to go online, but they have no local work... oh, by the way, here is a pamplet/brocure about opportunities with us that are NOT jobs). In short, about 33% of the people at job fairs are just advertising their company and services, none of which are even related to finding work, not to mention no jobs.

Parents / sister have agreed to pay my half of things on May 1, but that only makes me feel a whole lot worse. My dad told me to get unemployment; I've been told the three times I went there (as recently as last week) I can't because I didn't work long enough at the city and, before that, I technically quit my last job. Under the rules, I get nothing.

Speaking of that job I quit, I can go back to it. All I have to do is call my old boss and I'd probably have 20+ hours a week before May... but I really, really don't want to do that. What really burns me is I can't even get a simple crap job at the moment, unless I hit food service and I honestly would rather go back to comic books well before that.

I also have to wake up early today to go help my dad set up his fishing weekend because everyone else involved has to work or won't be there until the place fills up and all the good spots are taken. Not working makes you everyone's go-to guy. Go figure.

I like fishing, but not for a whole weekend. I don't like sleeping outside. My species didn't flint-nap and fire-start all the way to the top of the food chain and the cutting edge of science to go back the fuck outdoors and sleep in a fucking tent so the mosquitoes can bite the hell out of me.

No. I love the outdoors and all, but only in small doses and in the "stop global warming / resource depletion / practice conservation" ways. The birds can have their forest, the fish clean water and the polar bears their ice, but I want my air conditioning, bed, running water, electric light and internet.

Yeah, call me what you want, but I like modern living. So what if I’m a nerd… at least I’m a fucking Alpha Nerd. I'll fish for a while, but I have important things to do, like look for work, get some groceries and save the world (in electronic format).

- Battlemage15, Alpha Nerd

PS - Alpha Nerd, noun: A nerd that has found female companionship and is no longer a virgin. Only surpassed by a Sigma Nerd (see Sigma Nerd, cro-ref, "Bill Gates").

PPS - Expect a review of Resident Evil 5 in a day or two.

Date:	2009-03-03 19:18
Subject:	Welcome Back BM15
Security:	Public
Mood:	depressed
Music:	"I Don't Care" - Apocalyptica

Been a long time... where to begin.

Had a cool job. Lost a cool job. Can't find a new job... yet, anyway. I do have 3 months of useful experience and a couple of really awesome professional contacts I did not have before.

Girlfriend was happy in Austin. Girlfriend's roommate wigs out. Girlfriend comes back to town.

Lived at home. Moved out. (Lost Job) Hope I don't have to move back...

Yeah, that about covers it. Moving on...

I thought finding work in October and November was rough. This time around, it looks to be twice as hard. I don't want to settle for less than $10 / Hour, but I might have to just to get some kind of income. I do have a lot more things to put on my resume, and new skills, and a bit of focus (I do like office work it seems), but that doesn't make it any easier that I lost a job that was close, I liked and could have used to move up later.

Also, I lost out to another History major, and by coming in second, and probably because of one person on the panel liking him so very much over me while the two people on the panel that would have to work with him secretly really wanted me. Those just twist the dagger a little, you know? Also, extracurriculars... that's what cost it for me I think.

Well, that's the price you pay for having a part time job while a full time student in a relationship and helping your parents pay the bills. Yeah, experience at actual life trumped by some extracurriculars. Whatever.

I do enjoy living in a place mostly of my own... but not having a job when you have to pay the bills is a lot more stressful then when you live upstairs at Mom and Dad's. Joy of joys. All because my sister couldn't wait until I was hired for real. Sigh.

For me, unemployment is not much of an option; it would be based almost solely on what I made as comic book guy, and guess what, I quit that job. Can't get much for that (not that it would be much at an average of 6.50 / Hour for 25 hours a week).

On a lighter note, I have most of one of my more favorite anime shows in my hands. The first two Tenchi OVAs were the last show on the original Adult Swim Saturday lineup back when it first kicked off serious anime on Cartoon Network (also, back when it actually kicked a whole lot of ass). I always stayed up and watched everything, ending the night with Tenchi; always funny and sometimes rather cool. I couldn't live without the OVAs any longer. When FUNimation releases the reprice of OVA 3 (which they licensed; I've read to watch that in Japanese with subtitles because some of the voices are BAD, one of them Ryoko, who was my favorite character...)

Anyways, I've got over a dozen applications out at the moment and am constantly adding to that in ones and twos, cherry picking what I really know I can do and would most likely enjoy. Slow going though. I should have double that out there, but many factors are against me here. The fact I probably won't get another temp position with the city for a few weeks make it that much worse; I was basically told I was on my own now.

Fun.

- Battelmage15, Would've hit Ryoko like the fist of an angry god, no questions asked

Date:	2008-10-25 02:48
Subject:	The Little Messiah
Security:	Public
Mood:	creative
Music:	December - Collective Soul

So, I'm feeling old. Every time I watch Comedy Central for more than 30 minutes I see an advertisement for a music collection and I feel a touch older.

You see, they have been offering up collections like "Buzz Cuts" or "Buzz Ballads" and when I hear the songs and see the names, I recognize something like 80% of them as "Damn that was a good song, I remember when that came out in high school I loved that song. I kinda want to order this". It is then I come to a horrible realization: This is how my parents feel when the Time Life music collection paid programming infomercials come on late at night.

Sigh.

Television I watched BRAND NEW when I was younger... yeah, it's on TV Land now. I remember watching something like 90% of Family Matters and 70% of Step by Step brand damn new. Now they, along with Boy Meets World and Clarissa Explains It All... yup, CLASSIC TV.

Double Sigh.

Well, moving on.

The song I'm currently listening to... yeah, re-discovered it during the commercial for Buzz Ballads 2 yesterday while watching a re-run of Daily Show. However, the lyrics at the very beginning filled my mind with real inspiration.

Why drink the water from my hand?
Contagious as you think I am.
Just tilt my sun towards your domain
Your cup runneth over again.

I was immediately thinking of the second coming of Christ... in the form of a small, flat chested 15 year old homeless girl with a speaking disorder somewhere in the Midwest of America. Short brown hair, brown eyes... completely unassuming. But she is the child of God.

Completely ostracized by the Fundamentalist-dominated town she lives around. They hate her for some reason, perhaps because she does things for and connects with people they don't see as "walking in God's light". For instance, she comforts a woman who is grappling with the idea of getting an abortion so she can keep her family's financial head above water (three other children, no father / husband situation). She helps a local guy, recently ousted as a homosexual, clean up his yard because it was vandalized with all kinds of anti-homosexual crap. She helps a recently arrived Muslim woman carry her groceries home for the supermarket for two dollars, but then turns around and gives that money to the town bum.

Nobody has any clue just what she is. Then, one day, they finally confront her. The city government wants to send her away to an orphanage once they learn she has no parents. Instead, she sets out on the road, deciding it's time to spread the word... even though she can barely speak.

The bum in her town goes with her. She convinced him to stand up for himself, but at the same time to stay humble; her entire life is the example he sees of her divinity and he becomes her first "Apostle". In her travels, she starts working small miracles... curing a woman of heroine addiction just by giving her a piece of chewing gum she blessed. Bringing a dead bird back to life. Comforting a homosexual beaten to within an inch of his life as he dies (an EMT who witnesses her doing so is overcome with the notion he should follow her).

Finally, she is attacked and nearly raped before a man in ragged blue jeans and matching jacket intervenes with a broken shod of wood and an equally worthless looking handle, seemingly from a broken sword. He kills them with these meager weapons. He's the angle Michael, fallen in his protection of her on the day she was born, going through his own test of sorts. He never once turned from the light... so the light turned from him as some seemingly perverted test of his faith. Though mortal, he helps to protect her from all manner of threat. He knows exactly what she is. Aside that, he's just as lost as the rest of us.

Eventually, she has twelve very diverse apostles, all seemingly normal people with the exception of one fallen angel. One is also a teacher that works with children with hearing and speaking difficulties... he helps her learn how to speak.

The central idea is she is NOT the shining figure with a booming voice. Also central is just how few accept her or see her for what she actually is. Those who call themselves faithful are her loudest opponents most often. Those who are her most fervent followers are normal people, the downtrodden, the misunderstood... the betrayed. Mortals who care for her because she is actually quite meek, bordering on helpless at times. Divinity has left her weak; their humanity makes her strong.

But she keeps growing more and more powerful. The fact she is the Scion of God is easy to dismiss if all she is doing is exhibiting kindness and curing the occasional disease or addiction. It will be hard to ignore once she starts walking on water and turning cups of water in root beer with a touch, however.

Thing eventually grow dire as some extremists don't see her as the messiah (they give that title to another, a matchstick man of sorts) and actually label her the anti-Christ (consider he company and the fanatic's mindset and you'd see why). They try to stop or silence her over and over, but each time she makes the case for her divine message stronger and stronger.

Finally, she does something HUGE and it begins to sink in for a lot of people everywhere. The fanatics go for broke and try to out and out kill her and all her apostles. This is the point where Michael proves his unending faith and dies in his mortal coil to protect the messiah in a gruesome, hopeless fashion.

He never relents in his faith. He never even despairs. Duty is his lot, no matter what. His sacrifice is what convinces the messiah to turn the bitch up to 11 and leave no doubt as to what she is. She speaks her first full sentence... and so begins the end of days.

The apostles have little to fear, for they are the ones that actually saved humuanity by proving there is good out there.

The Messiah may be merciful, but God... not so much. But before Judgement is passed and all hell breaks loose down on earth, God sets one thing right. His most loyal is returned to life in his full splendor.

Because Duty may end with Death, but Faith is Eternal. Thus, Michael's duty can never end for his faith is unending. His example and the example of the messiah are the main message.

No matter what, you can still have faith and you can still do what is right.
Salvation rarely comes in a package easily recognized.
Most importantly - Good will not be denied.

Date:	2008-09-29 20:25
Subject:	Sometimes...
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired
Music:	"No Excuses" by Alice in Chains

... you just can't win.

I was one trait out of seven off. You ever fail something important by one point?

I never have. Until today.

And every day that goes by, the economic situation gets that much worse and jobs become that much more scarce.

I guess I'll pick up again on Wednesday. Now I have to focus on cleaning up my room, getting ready for family to come down and going to work. Oh, also, my sister is getting married on Monday.

Yeah, I found that out today.

It's been a most wonderful month.


-Battlemage15, Tired, Broke and Lonely

Date:	2008-09-04 22:56
Subject:	---
Security:	Public
Mood:	depressed
Music:	"Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who

No one knows what its like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind brown eyes

No one knows what its like
To be hated
To be fated
To telling only lies

But my dreams
They arent as empty
As my conscience seems to be

I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
Thats never free

No one knows what its like
To feel these feelings
Like I do
And I blame you

No one bites back as hard
On their anger
None of my pain and woe
Can show through

But my dreams
They arent as empty
As my conscience seems to be

I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
Thats never free

When my fist clenches, crack it open
Before I use it and lose my cool
When I smile, tell me some bad news
Before I laugh and act like a fool

If I swallow anything evil
Put your finger down my throat
If I shiver, please give me a blanket
Keep me warm, let me wear your coat

No one knows what its like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind brown eyes

Date:	2008-09-01 02:17
Subject:	Afro Samurai
Security:	Public
Mood:	creative
Music:	"Torn" by Creed

I bought this a few days back. I finally got around to watching it and just finished.

It's in the top 5 pieces of anime I have ever seen.

In short, it was AMAZING.

I also had a "Spike and Jet's last talk" / "the tear streaming down Haku's cheek as he and Zabuza die" moment. Meaning - A moment I wanted to pause what I was watching and cry for a minute because of how tragic it was and how truely sorry I felt for the characters. In a late episode Okiku (a little girl at the time), Afro, Jinno and the other kids are watching the fireworks. They are talking about what they want their last meals to be, and Okiku says she wants to see fireworks at (or for) her last meal.

In an earlier episode, as a woman, before Okiku makes love with Afro and then dies at the hands of Empty Seven #2 when she betrays them and tries to help him... they sit together and watch the fireworks.

I choked up pretty good.


If Maria died like that, Michael would never smile or make love again. He would forget how, for the heart holds that knowledge... and his dies with her.


Mark my words. Once my BESM Revised Second Edition book comes in (which I will admit, I liked more than the current and final edition, Third), I will try to translate some of what I saw into the first game I run with it.

- Battlemage15, "The old systems were best" fa/tg/uy

Date:	2008-08-30 03:39
Subject:	Let Me Get This Straight...
Security:	Public
Mood:	thoughtful
Music:	"Free Bird" by Lynard Skynard

Okay, so McCain has picked his VP and it is the current Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. After watching a lot of political television (Larry King, assorted CNN, Daily Show, Colbert Report and Real Time with Bill Maher to be specific) I've come to one conclusion.

Can't we have a true, honest to god debate on anything. They have all these political big wigs and analysts on these shows and NONE of them seem to approach anything objectively and many like to dodge hard questions.

Let me lay out how I feel about Johnny Boy's pick, here and now.

Sarah Palin is very much an accomplished politician that a lot of everyday American people will get and like. Also, I subscribe to the idea that the Democrats underestimate her at their own peril. However, she doesn't work for me in two important ways.

1) She's a real-fucking-deal conservative, bible-thumping pro-lifer that would see Roe v. Wade deader than dead.

2) For all her accomplishments, she is less qualified for prime time than Joe Biden.

What do I mean by number 2? Let me explain the point nobody cornered a Republic annalist with last night. Both Obama and McCain are high-risk candidates in the death department. McCain because he's had cancer and may me well suffer a heart attack, stroke or who knows what in office. As for Obama... all I have to say is one very determined bigot with a rifle and scope is all it takes.

It is irresponsible of these so-called "experts" and "annalists" to gloss over these facts. That is what really pisses me off. They can't put the politics aside for 10 minutes and give us a real answer on this.

If McCain keels over (heaven forbid; I do like the man) Palin is now on prime time. If Obama becomes the first black president, and subsequently assassinated because of it, Biden is in the hot seat.

So America, who do you want for President of the United States?

Sarah Palin, Mayor of a small town and now Governor of Alaska for about two years.

-or-

Joe Biden, US Senator for 30+ years?

People dodge this, saying "But Palin (or Biden) is not the top of the ticket". Yeah, you are correct. However, these two are the ones next in line should a blood clot or bullet strike. And with McCain and Obama, those respective threats are very, very real.

Obama and McCain get to make the promises and the big speeches. They are the presidential nominees. One is inexperienced and an advocate for "Change" (whatever that is, good 'ol Chosen One of Tzeench); the other is a senior citizen and sounding more and more like Mr. 21% Approval Rating day by day. We get to dissect what these two say and mean to us over the next 8 weeks.

Fate could then very well stick us with the other one. The one we don't get to hear speak too often. The one that doesn't get to make their own promises.

This is my thinking. Obama and McCain were about equal in my eyes. One had me excited, agreeing with him and worried about who he would have advising him; the other had my real respect, has tangible experience and troubles me with his abandonment of his principles to come in line with rank and file party members. Thus, equal. One is experienced and more of the same; the other inexperienced and means to do things I agree with.

That leads me to look at their seconds. Biden has been a Senator for 30 years and is a working class man for a good sum. He's experienced, if a bit rash and he is of the "old club" of Washington. Palin, I've never heard of until today, but has my respect because she get's shit done against serious odds and is a Washington outsider. Also, she is pretty sexy ("The Maverick and the MILF" - Bill Mayer).

Again, I almost come to a draw. So I have to fall back on my judgment and my values. They are at odds as well. McCain wins my judgment, Obama my values. However, Biden wins both and Palin at best appeases my judgment.

She may be NRA (I like that), but she'd see Roe v. Wade dead and gone. Nope, can't abide that one. McCain has very clearly made his presidency about a lot of things, but the big red flag is that I honestly believe Roe v. Wade won't survive the McCain/Palin run. This would lead to anger of no end from my girlfriend and her friend's (that I'd have to listen to; I love you hon, but some of your friend's fire can be rather... scary. And loud). However, I agree with them; a woman's right to choose and to birth control should not be challenged. Period. Just because you have 5 kids Palin does not mean I want to or should.

So here I toss my lot in with the Blue.

And pray I've made the right choice because Obama is green and is an inviting target for Klansmen all over.

They speak of values voters. Well, this race made me one. I value a woman's right to choose for herself and have open access to birth control. I would probably very much oppose my girlfriend aborting a child if I knew it was mine and I could support them. However, that is our discussion and in the end her choice. The government... should just stay the fuck out of that one. As of access for proper birth control, she should have it. As should all women. Planning when you will start a family, if ever, is common-sensical to me.

Also, am I the only one that thinks McCain did this in part to make his ticket just as tempted for those looking to make history as Obama's is? If McCain choose Mitt Romney, which I honestly believed he would've, his ticket would have been same old same old. Obama's, on the other hand, screams "Want to make history America? Vote for me!" Now McCain's has that same appeal.

This is no coincidence.

Mark my words... these next eight weeks will be very interesting and, most likely, will get very, very ugly.


On a side note... yesterday, August 29th, 2008 was girlfriend and mine's 3rd Anniversary (it was also three years to the day Katrina stomped a mud hole in New Orleans, but that's beside the point). I love her very much. Things could be better between us at the moment, but I suppose they could be much worse as well. I'm just thankful to have her.


Battlemage15, Political Junkie