no, really? Oh come on man!

When I saw this last week I just could not believe it. Seriously He-man, Smurfs, E.T.,  G.I.Joe, comic books all satanic? REALY!?!? is it possible that these things could be simply taken at face value? I mean you get upset because a 2 year old has more interest in He-Man than in reading the bible.  You know children also have more interest in playing with an iPad than they do with reading the great works of literature. Well at least this kind of right wing religious nut job bullshit is a thing of the past. Right.

O.K. I stand corrected. If this kind of film proves anything (besides a perfect example of Poe's law in action!) it is that religion can be just as dangerous to kids as any other fanaticism. if it's all the same I'll keep my He-Man toys, and not force my kids into a make believe Jyhad O.K.? 

In Defense of George Lucas or, Amy Farrah Fowler is full of crap.

I'll be straight with you, I have given up on the Big Bang Theory some time ago. Mostly because of the change in the show's dynamic. Once we brought on Amy and Bernadette the show has gone from Penny being the outsider looking in, and being accepted into the group on some kind of equal footing, to Penny being queen bee of her own group, and rolling her eyes at how big of dorks the men in her life are. This has really changed the show from a Frasier like feel of justifying but laughing with us to the TV equivalent of "let's laugh at the nerds!" So when I first heard the "incredible story" of how the character of Amy Farrah Fowler (played by former Blossom star Mayim Bialik) had rendered Raiders of the Lost Ark pointless naturally I was curious. Supposedly ruining one of the greatest action movies of my generation, with supposedly incredible and clever logic upset quite a few Indiana Jones fans!) It took me a while to see the episode. and To all those folks who wear Bazinga T-shirts, and think the show is some kind of Gospel. I can easily point out that despite her genius level I.Q., she is in fact so very and wholly without a doubt incorrect.

Her theory goes as follows, that without Indiana Jones' interferrence the events of the film would have played out the same. Belloq would still die along with a whole group of Nazis after stealing the Ark of the Covenant from it's resting place in the Well of Souls. "Oh no she didn't!" right? Sure Belloq pretty much signed his death warrant by throwing in with the third reich, but one small problem with her theory.

The flaw in the theory is this she implies that the wrath of God/Nazi slaughterfest that happened at the end of the movie was the whole point. all them dead German soldiers and officers would have dide regardless of Jones being there or not. but where did they take the Ark? Simple, they took it to the other side of an Island with a German submarine base on it. Now I highly doubt that opening the Ark, here to assure the Fuhrer's Prize would be confirmed before it's trip to Berlin was so important as to abandon a working shipyard in a time of war. In short not every soldier on the Island went to the opening of the arc more than half probably stayed at base to continue fueling, repair and monitoring for allied threats during the opening of the Ark. What's more any basic millitary protocol would have required some form of check in, after some amount of time, after they failed to check in,a search party would have been sent to report on the missing group. No Indiana Jones to hightail the Ark of the Island after the opening killed Toht, Deitrich, Belloq, means that once the German patrol came up on this scene of grizzly carnage caused by the wrath of God on the Nazis still would have left the Relic in the hands of the German millitary, and it may have been bombed, crated back to Berlin, or even dropped into the ocean. But due to Doctor Jones being present, he and Marion put it into the hands of US military intelligence. Where "top men" would study and pack it in a warehouse. Had it been left on the island we honestly have no Idea what the German army or Hitler would have done with the golden chest containing the fragments of the ten commandments. Thus while Indiana Jones may not have gotten the Ark for the University to study. his actions and his involvement with the  search for the Ark does indeed matter. His involvement did indeed change the outcome of events.

Look I am not the genius that Sheldon or Amy are supposed to be, but apparently I know a bit more about basic military protocol.

Top Ten disappointing video games

So just to be clear, this is not a list of the top ten worst video games, As that list is going to have a lot of familiar complaints (such as attacking E.T. on the Atari, or Cheetahmen on the NES) This list is games that  disappointed me. It's a pretty subjective list but it you may notice some obvious titles missing such as Duke Nukem for Xbox360/PS3. It didn't disappoint simply because I had no expectations of this game being worth a damn and only played the demo. But again these are games I felt the need to complain about some may have good points but all fell flat in some way.

10- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 (X-Box 360) While the game itself is actually pretty good, especially the demo level where you are escaping Vader's fortress, it is also painfully short. I mean really short. I beat this one in less than a weekend, with time to do all sorts of other things. by comparison part 1 took me like 3 weeks. This game should have been an add on pack instead of a full game.

9- Kengo Legend of the Nine (X-Box 360) In my opinion, the best fighting game bar none is a little title released by square called Bushido Blade. Any company rereleasing this with updated graphics on an current gen console will indeed bet my money! It is an almost simulation of sword fighting, with pl;ayers choosing different weapons, and each character having expertise in some more than other. but it didn't stop there. You could kill a man in one good swing, no life bars, no whiz bang special moves, and damage affects you correctly. You get an arm hit, the limb is far less useful. So when Kengo, a samurai era fighting game from the developers of Bushido Blade came out, yeah I jumped. and then I played it. In short it has all the earmarks of a typical fighter with the theme of Bushido Blade kinda in there somewhere. Serious letdown. Just do me a favor. take the original game update it to PS3/4/Xbox 1 style graphics and you have a sale otherwise don't waste my time.

8- Heavy Rain (PS3) I knew going in that this wasn't supposed to be Halo, or Uncharted. It was meant from the get go to be an interactive movie. However, the best movies draw your players in the first 10 minutes. This game lets you simulate waking up in the morning in a way that makes the Sims seem like an FPS. Snooze fest. What little I got out of this title was please no more.

7- Circus Maximus (X-Box) This game actually prompted me to buy an X-box, the idea of historical chariot racing and combat was appealing enough to make me think this is the kind of games I would love to try Bought this and Halo the same time, and well I finished Halo, and forgot the name of this stinking turd until i started researching this article too much going on for one player but 2 player is boring as watching paint peel.

6- The Adventures of Willy Beamish (Sega CD) Before Heavy Rain pushed the interactive movie idea, Dynamix did so for Sega's Sega CD taking advantage of the new audio and video technology to make a new kind of interactive adventure. Crippling load times and less than rewarding game play make me really regret spending actual money on this. 

5- Red Steel (Wii) So the Wii will let me aim a controller like a gun? WOW! and that should make FPS games more real right? Meh, after an hour my arms were tired and I was bored of this so so attempt to make a hard edged FPS for the Wii.

4- Final Fantasy Dissidia (PSP) So since Square made Bushido Blade another fighter from the same company might be worth it right? but I better download the demo just to be sure. So far not bad it seems like a fluid but very different fighting game. Hey look there is the full game, let's pick it up. And then let's drop it like a hot rock for being almost nothing like the demo.

3- X-Men (NES) Back in the day a friend of mine found this game in an arcade the cartridge just sitting there, so he swiped it. He invited me to try it. Maybe he said he swiped it to hide the shame of paying actual real currency for this game which has as much to do with X-men style drama and action as A documentary on Stephen Hawking's life will have hardcore martial arts action. PASS!

2- Grand Theft Auto III A lot has been said of this sandbox game and for the most part popular games are popular for a reason. I felt like i was playing a crazed autistic who would beat upon anyone he met, and then hide from the cops. My experience with this game was poor enough to sour me on sandbox games for some time the Godfather was a much better game.

1- Gladius (X-Box) As game companies go, Lucas Arts has always had a great reputation. While most games based on movies suck, X-wing, Tie Fighter StarWars Battlefront all amazing. and then there are the non star wars games, Loom, Curse of Monkey Island, Maniac Mansion,and Grim Fandango all instant classics. So a combat game of gladitorial combat, how could they screw this up? apparently supremely easily. the game used RPG style combat ala Final Fantasy and long ass cutscenes. why in a game where visceral combat was the whole point would you go to some bullshit JRPG combat scheme? It boggles the damned mind! Recently Lucas Arts folded after several disappointing games and being bought by Disney. After this game I am less saddened by this news.

The Top 5 Reasons we should respect the French.

I noticed that my blog has a surprising amount of French readership, It's actually in spitting distance of 1000 views. Which I think is pretty cool, but as an American I have heard a lot of cracks on the French as a whole. And why? How many Americans (many of whom have not left the country) can have such an opinion of people that they have gleaned most of their information about from rumor, conjecture, and Pepe Le Pew cartoons. The big joke is about France being invaded during the 2nd world war. Really? The fact that they were invaded was mostly about location had Britain or the USA had been geographically easier to attack. but with the English channel, and the Atlantic ocean being a bit of an impediment, France was simply a more convenient target for the German war machine. Let's stop using geography to validate arguments of supposed cowardice okay? As for refusing to fight in the current war, this was smart, not cowardly. The invasion of Iraq cost the US far too much for too little, I wouldn't have voted to go to war, and neither would have congress if they had to go into the actual combat zones. Yet we hear the stupid jokes again and again, about a culture we as a people no very little about. So here is 5 things that are very cool about the French that we should respect our French brothers and sisters for.

5- Religion (or lack there of!) So while most of the world lets the "Church" of Scientology opperate like any other church, including enjoying tax exempt status here in the states, in France L Ron Hubbards pet money making cult has been labeled just that a dangerous cult. In fact, Hubbard was tried in absentia and fined 35,000 french franks and a 4 year prison sentence. And as I for one have little to no respect for the pseudo religion that is scientology, I think this is awesome. Scientology has been exposed many times, from Harlan Ellison's talks about the origins of his sci-fi writer colleague talking about the money involved in a religion, to South Park's episode about the creation myth of Scientology. Incidentally, The written origins of Scientology (the Xenu story) are explained by the church that you must be at least a certain level of "clear" before hearing the story or it would kill you to comprehend. yet after Star Wars' release Hubbard shopped a script around Hollywood called "Revolt in the Stars" which is the story of Xenu and the basis of Scientology. So why shop a script around of the story that can kill you if you are not ready to hear? There are only 2 possible options, First that Hubbard was trying to destroy a great swath of humanity with a Ring Like movie premier which makes him a cartoon super villain, or he was looking for some of that sweet sweet Star Wars money, and he is in fact, a fraud.

4- Comics Don't get me wrong America has some amazing comics from Batman and Green Lantern to books like Transmetropolitan, and Bone, Hell just look at what the Avengers grossed last year! But the interresting thing about our current love affair with comics is the way we treat the actual comics. I know many people who will excitedly go see the Avengers: Age of Ultron in the theatres first night, but will never read a single comic book, why "Those are for kids!" they will cry. citing both laziness and ignorance, as well as missing the point of what comics today. The same can be said about animation for that matter. Adults will pay top dollar to watch GI Joe, Transformers, or Green Lantern, as long as they are mostly live action and have 'splosions and celebrities. Heck the last animated GI Joe movie (Resolute) was far deeper both in plot and in adult content, than both live action GI Joe movies combined! In France, comics, or bande dessinee, as they are known are referred to as the ninth art. That's right they are considered as valid an art form as cinema, poetry, painting, music and sculpture. In fact the comic Heavy Metal, is a french import. Unlike US comics French comics are a bit more like Japanese Manga, they cover a much broader range of topics, less traditional US Superhero types, and more Stories like novellas, such as Okko, (Pictured above) who is a demon hunting ronin who's party roams the mythical island of Pajan. And yeah there are plenty of French comics that are "for kid" take Asterix for one!

But even here there is a lot of depth for a kids book. Set during the Roman Empire, Asterix is the Story of the one gaul village the Empire could not conquer. This is mostly due to a magic potion that their druid Getafix concocts that gives the villagers Superhuman strength. Appearing in Pilote in 1959 Asterix as a comic icon is second to the Disney pantheon of known characters world wide. and has spawned several movies (live action and animated) and yet is a virtual unknown here in the states.

3-Movies I have a degree in film (A BA to be precise)  and I will say yeah there are some boring pretentious French films, just like there are some boring pretentious German films, some boring pretentious British films and of course some boring pretentious American films. But this is no reason to discount French cinema as a whole. John Paul Juenet's films such as Delicatessen City of Lost Children are trippy and insanely awesome films, Juenet is also the director behind Alien: Resurection, which was written by Joss Wheadon, and features a prototype version of the crew of the Serenity in the crew of the Betty, this alone is a reason to give the film a second look. That is to say nothing of films by Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, the Professional) or Christophe Ganz (Brotherhood of the Wolf) Also The likes of George Lucas, Francis Ford Copella and Brian Depalma, are often referred to as the American new wave, taking their inspiration and film making style from the French new wave. So yeah the French help George Lucas become inspired to make Star Wars, not bad eh?

2- Games While the miniatures gamer in me would like to rant on about AT-43, and Confrontation, which is still one of my all time favorite fantasy miniatures games, video games are being developed pretty heavily in france from classics like Out of This World, and Flashback, to newer titles such as Heavy Rain, and Bioshock 2. Atari currently is been purchased by a french outfit and therea re several other big studios in France making games, including Ubisoft, and Titus. Hey a good game is a work of art and the French are known for their artistry.

1-Governmental Courage Yeah, I am about to get pretty political here. After the attack on 9-11, France became a dirty word especially among those who supported George W Bush. Citing cowardice in WWII, and now in coming to our aid against Iraq, which was not the perpetrators of the attack on the world trade center. But this did not stop small minded folk from jumping the gun, and on changing french fries to "freedom fries", or even insisting that Kerry would make a lousy president because he "looks French" but seriously It takes guts to stand up to an ally and tell them you want no part of their cockamamie schemes. This war has hurt our economy as a whole, and we still have people fighting and occupying the area some 14 years after the attack. Quite frankly as a country we would have done better to focus on the real enemy and not throw stupid tantrums because not all of our allies will join in the hunt in the wrong place. Sorry folks, courage is more than pulling a gun, and name calling is simply arrogant and ignorant of us.

Look every country has it's jerks, it's rude people and it's problems, but I for one can't see the point in heaping all of this on perceived opinions of a country that you may not have ever been in personally.

League of Extrordinary bloggers: Pet Peeves

So with a Blog named "Nerd Rage against the Machine." Pet Peeves are pretty much my specialty, I rant. That's what I do. And that being said, it's what I want to rant about but here is my pet peeves, so with that in mind I decided to shake this up a bit and come up with 5 major pet Peeves, make this kind of a potpourri of things that piss me off.

5-Celebrities who use Celebrity instead of acting- This happens more often than not, one young actor or actress gets that really meaty role that people love, and then BOOM! that's what he or she is known for. Look at Cillian Murphy, who played the Scarecrow in Batman Begins. Before this he played a sympathetic crossdressing protagonist in the film Breakfast on Pluto. Without a shred of malice or sadism, Murphy played the role with aplomb, but then he did a little movie called Batman Begins. Now? He is the perfect person to play sadists, sociopaths and psychos. Red Eye, his first film after Batman, he was the psycho in the film. He was also the villain in the films In Time, and set up to be the villain in the next Tron film. Why does this bother me? a few reasons, firstly we give these actors a by to play characters that are essentially their schtick rather than growing and cultivating other performances. And worse, films cater to them not the other way around. Take George Clooney, I won't deny the guy is talented, but at the same time rather than him trying to become this noted character, the character was twisted to fit Clooney's style. The importance of what makes Batman an interesting character were scrapped for "we want a George Clooney kind of Batman." The Same can be said for Shaquille O'neil in the film Steel. The character of Steel could have made a decent film but, WE GOT SHAQ!!! Let's make jokes about his inability to make free throws, and ignore the connections to superman that the character had, because IT'S SHAQ!!! Don't believe me? Look at Stalone's Judge Dredd film, which was a vehicle for Stalone, it was a disaster. Meanwhile Dredd, starring Karl Urban who was a hardcore fan of the comic did an amazing job as the megacity lawman, and doctor McCoy, two very different characters both played by the same ACTOR brilliantly. This often effects comic movies where since it's  lot of effects it is a summer blockbuster, and we want some "star power" to draw people in. Why? is a comic that has become a huge phenomenon in one industry not enough reason to explore it in film? So yeah Pet Peeve.

4-Games Workshop- Just like Disney and Microsoft, Games Workshop started out from humble beginnings. A group of british gamers who wanted to import the dungeons and dragons phenomenon to the UK. Eventually branching into miniatures and their own games, such as Talisman, and Dungeonquest, but nothing turned them from a small company to a publicly traded corporation like Warhammer, and it's sister game Warhammer 40,000 rogue trader. Since about the 1990s GW has gone from the small group of dedicated gamers that ran their company in the 1980s to a company beholden to it's shareholders, who have at every turn dicked over fans and the industry at large. From near annual price hikes, to frivolous lawsuits that would make Apple blush with shame, GW has truly become the Microsoft of the industry. Not a trip to the game store goes by that I don't get to hear another grievance planted firmly on GW. They just axed their specialist games line leaving fans of any thing they make that isn't Warhammer, or Warhammer 40,000 or the Hobbit, out in the cold, sorry bloodbowl players. And yet they continue to play. I have heard gamers scream bloody murder, and yet with alternatives in the market what do they do? They continue to give money to and play the GW way. If we had this blind loyalty in the video game industry, Atari would still be the number one brand in video gaming followed closely by Mattel, and Coleco. Two game companies I have begun to really like Warlord, and Mantic are run by Ex GW developers and have made some amazing games and have customer service unparalleled customer friendly activities, and yet fans go GW, this would be like a Beatles fan  refusing to listen to anything John Lennon, or Paul MacCartney do post Beatles, but they will slavisly buy polygram records because they distributed the Beatles records so they must be good. I just don't freaking get it!

3- People who cannot use their goddamn turn signals!- Nothing pisses me off more than some jackass who cuts me off from the left without bothering to use his turn signal, then jumps into the right turn lane and signals he is turning right. Not when it actually would have helped be a safe driver, but once you are in the goddamn THEN you let the world know that not only are you in a lane that only turns right, but you are signaling that you are turning right. There is a special place in hell for people like this. Stuck in a car with a repeating loop of Michael Bolton's greatest hits in a car with a top speed of 15 mph locked in for all eternity while other drivers cut you off every chance they get.  

2- Gamers (as in I own an X-box, so I am such the gamer)- have been a "gamer" since 1984, with red box D&D, Traveller, Champions, etc, and when I caught 50 shades of crap (even being accused of Satan worship, by a classmate who had a hard time wrapping her head around the idea that if I am an atheist, I by definition cannot worship, Satan or otherwise! Now being a hardcore gamer type means you play call of duty, or Halo on your Xbox. wow you guys really paid your dues. I earned the title of gamer, in marathon sessions of Cyberpunk, and Warhammer building terrain, and writing adventures, now you just pick up a wireless controller and play an "RPG" (I am sorry Final Fantasy VII is NOT AN RPG GODDAMN IT! It's just an adventure game with a shitty combat engine!!) damn kids get off my lawn!

1- The Fact that this dung heap is worth millions- Yeah the continued existence of the Australian douchebag who's company killed Firefly, the Tick, The Lone Gunmen, and countless others, and who pumped so much poison into our political discourse in this country is not only still around but worth
millions. The fact that Birthers bitch about our president claiming he's a foreigner take their marching orders from an actual foreigner would be funny if it wasn't so goddamn tragic. between Fox News and Fox screwing around with anything they touch that has an ounce of talent or quality (but you damn well better believe if it's some trash TV that appeals to the lowest common denominator this man will promote the hell out of it!) Suck it Rupert!

Now that I got that of my chest, let's see what pisses off the rest of the league.

Nerd Cantina
Cavalcade of Awesome (So right about the shopping carts!)
GI Jigsaw
Di's treasures
Diary of a Dorkette ( I remember the same problem with the Teen Titans Line (only got half a titan tower DAMN THEM!!))

To Infinity?, I doubt I will go much beyond...

In 2006, Mattel took it's second foray into videogames. No longer squaring off against the likes of Atari, or Coleco, Mattel was about to take on Playstation 3 and Xbox-360, with their new machine. And while it did not have the HD compatibility, blu-ray internals or hardcore titles Like Halo, or Final Fantasy, they did have one thing an incredible marketing strategy. Using an RFID reader, in conjuntion with a CD-Rom, Mattel's Hyperscan, would allow players to use collectable trading cards to upgrade their games with new characters, powers and other stuff. In short making the customer buy expansions for a game with a physical value. with how hot collectable card games like Yu-Gi-Oh, and Pokemon were this thing could have been Mattel's license to print money. but underpowerd guts, horrible load times, and being placed in the toy aisle, not the electronics aisle prettymuch killed the Hyperscan's bid to put Mattel back in the console business, but perhaps it was a bit ahead of it's time. 

At least that must have been Activision's theory when they created an RFID accessory and figures with RFID tags in their bases for the kids video game Skylanders. again kids will go nuts for toys that will also enhance their gameplay. but as Activision cleverly made it an accessory for all 3 big consoles and sells PVC figures instead of cards, the idea took off like gangbusters. How gangbusters you may ask? Enough so for Disney to decide they want their own piece of that filthy filthy Skylanders cash. 

And that in a Nutshell is the premise behind Disney's Infinity. The game is actually a series of lukewarm sandbox games tied together with a minecraftesque build your own world. The Disney Infinity figures, which are stylized PVC figures possessing no articulation, and the ubiquitous RFID tag base. in short they are selling add on DLC as a physical item, and with a considerable mark up. The average "new character" is about $0.99 which is $12.00 less than the average Infinity figure. Now at first I was actually kind of O.K. with this, my daughter, who is not at the age where she plays video games, seemed to fall in love with the figurines, and as the RFID is sealed in a plastic casing I don't have a large worry about her damaging them. However a few odd things. Firstly, the game's tutorial (because that's how games work nowadays, no one has time to read a manual, so let's give them a tutorial!) goes on and on (at infinitum) about the power of imagination. it's in fact, supposed to be the central theme of the game, a bit like it is in the little big planet game series. However maybe it's the lack of the dulcet tones of Mr. Stephen Fry talking about the power of imagination, but the whole damn thing feels artificial. 

Also within the sandbox games you are forced to keep to a very specific regimen. Only characters from the incredibles can be in the incredibles game and never any others, wanna play Jack Sparrow in Monster University? Too bad. Wanna change characters mid adventure (such as from Violet to Dash in the increedibles) Nope, you play the same character, or start the entire game world over again. Both of these seem like very stifling tactics for a game that espouses the value of imagination. I can understand that Disney wants to protect it's IP, but since all of the elements and the world is all generated by Disney, we aren't going to see any objectionable content by letting Mr. Incredible use his powers in the world of the Lone Ranger, or even change characters between sessions. Sure some are going to be ill- suited for some games/ worlds, the inability to climb may really make any of the Cars characters have a tough time in the incredibles, but this is the kind of organic trial and error thing that players would enjoy, and would allow players to explore possibilities. Now much of this CAN be done in the minecrafteqsue toybox mode, however in a game about imagination and that pushes that word as much as this does it seems to be a questionable decision. Now one other thing on the physical figures, as I mentioned earlier, my daughter loves them. In fact she loves them so much she has been known to pluck the figures off the desk while being used and hide them. So imagine if your favorite game had physical components (beyond just the disk, and controler) that MUST be connected to the console to continue, and f lost you either have to start over or not play. I spent 2 hours looking all over for Mrs Incredible, while reviewing this because my daughter thought she should be set under the couch. and the power disk, still remains MIA. 

Another new thing is the game has ads, (of a sort) littered throughout the game worlds are videos to show off and extol the virtues of the other characters. This takes the game out of the realm of memorabilia into advertising to you paid for by you. they are already pushing characters for upcoming films by showing the videogame characters in promotion during the game. Considering the core game is $75 with 3 character figures and the infinity RFID reader (called the toybox), and the software. then add an additional $13.00 for each individual figure or $30.00-$35.00 for 3 packs or 2 packs with an additional "world icon", you can see how this game can start to get very costly very quickly. This is also more useful for them to pass off than the deluge of cheaply made video games based on new movies, Case in point, why make a Lone Ranger video game that few will play considering the potential unpopularity of the film, but if you already spent for infinity and are a completist, you will spend $35.00 for the Lone Ranger character pack and play the lone ranger missions for the bonuses they may give to the infinity experience as a whole? This is the future of disney interactive, and I can see them pulling in Star Wars and Marvel this way as well, Why not? There is already some ESPN inspired terrain in the game and muppet costumes, why not add these other 2 cash cow properties? 

In the end I am probably not their core demographic, I get that, I am sure my daughter when she comes of age will probably be more into it than I am but in short I got into this both due to colleagues gushing over it, and getting it on discount, but I don't know how far beyond I would want to go with Infinity. 

REALLY WTF?!?

So i try to be less political here than on my facebook page, or in real life, but in this case I am not holding back. Why because this is an issue that just pisses me off like no other. We crowned the first Miss America of Indian Descent, Nina Davuluri, and the response? Well it was a tirade of racist bullshit on twitter. Many calling her muslim, and screaming that as someone not born in America, she cannot be Miss America. Really now we have to birther the person who won the title of Miss America?  First off I am sure we can find her birth certificate, but more to the point what give anyone the right to question wether or not she is American? 

If anything she is a shining example of the traditions this country was founded on, we are supposed to be a great melting pot of cultures and nations. When did that only apply to white people? There was a time in this country when your ancestors were most likely persecuted for not being "real Americans", maybe they had funny accents, or didn't speak english, and yet you spit in the faces of these people's struggles when you try to exclude others from the American dream. and that's what this is. Don't pretend you are concerned because she might be Muslim (actually she is Hindu) but what does this matter? She could be a devout Christian, Athiest, or even a devout worshiper of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and it would not change her qualifications to win this contest.

Beauty, It's a beauty contest right? Not a contest for government office, right? So the judges declared her the winner, and as beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, you don't have to agree. We all have our type, and if she isn't yours that's fine you are entitled to your opinion.If she is too tall, or short, or you just don't like the whole package that's fine. Case in Point I never thought Pamella Anderson was all that attractive, or Voyager's Jeri Ryan. I do however think that Tina Fey, and Jewel Statie (Kaylee on Firefly) are both very attractive women. Again my opinion, not that either women could make the standards of the Miss American Contest. But there is a severe difference between not agreeing with the judges of a beauty contest and flat out racism. 

Theresa Vail, the tattooed Miss Kansas didn't win and  this is much of what seems to be sticking in these people's craw. She is viewed as a "real American" because she was in the military, like bow hunting, and has a tattoo of the serenity prayer on her side. So here is the deal she had the same chance to wow the judges as any other candidate, and it did not work out. That's life. Get over it, it is no reason to be so hateful toward the girl that did win. 

What's more what, ultimately, will she get out of being Miss America? is she now the ruler of America? No. While equally Assanine, I could understand the concern over Obama being president, if he really is unfit to lead that can be frustrating (I Know, I went through 8 years of that when W was in office!) but this isn't a position of power, it is only one of prestige. She will have to do several parades, and get her foot in the door in hollywood, where she may get into TV, Music, or Movies. Look at Vanessa Williams, and she had her crown revoked for being in Penthouse. 

Yet this Numbnut (who is also an American of Indian Descent) has actual power, as the governor of Louisiana. and yet no one on the right is grumbling. Why? Well he's pro NRA, pro big oil, anti gay, anti abortion. In short he is towing the republican ideology. To top this off Jindal (who claims to have exorcised demons out of a woman)  has also been floated around as a potential GOP candidate for vice president. Hmm. Methinks there is a bit of hypocrisy here.  Of course the fact that he has become embroiled in a scandal of favors for donations matters as little as his heritage to the repubs and tea partiers, who support him, because he is a real American. So what does Miss Dvuluri have to do to be accepted, claim to be a born again christian, and cheat charities on the Koch brothers behalf, then will you consider her a real American? Seriously this is just do fucking wrong. 

Poor miss Cassandra Kane, and shame on you DC!

So is it me or is DC really falling so damn low? Cal recently broke a story about the crap they are doing to Harley Quinn, and not soon after we get this. I was initially annoyed with whole new 52 crap that DC put together. From the horrible implementation and inability to keep it's won continuity straight, to the horrible decisions such as trying to steal Marvel's North Star wedding with making green lantern Allen Scott gay, a major character in the most minor of ways. So now there is a new controversy with Batwoman, another gay character. Who their writers have decided would marry her long time love. No big thing, right? No thunder to seal, just an organic part of plot. So how did DC's head honchos handle this? As I said no headlines to grab from Marvel, so no. No same sex wedding for Batwoman. What is the justification for this boneheaded and ultimately homophobic decision? simple, the idea is that heroes shouldn't be happy. Yup, DC's brass stated that allowing Cassandra Kane to marry her love would make her happy, and this would have a negative impact on the character. As heroes should be unhappy and must make sacrifices as part of the heroic journey.

Utter Bullshit.

Sorry to be so blunt but come on! Sure heroes DO have to sacrifice. But that does not mean that she would not be allowed to marry. marriage can be a source of great tragedy. From the obvious hostage the girl trope, to the sheer stress that a double life can have on a relationship. Look at any good cop drama, then remember that donning the suit is not a job, it's optional. She could stop it's not their duty or livelihood. And unlike a cop there are no days when being a superhero is just an office day. Add to that, the fact that her girlfriend is a cop, and you have a perfect recipe for misery and tension. In short. The excuse is a load of crap and DC knows it. The whole staff quit over this, and the only press DC is going to get from this is bad. I think it's time to admit the whole 52 thing was a mistake, and that these tactics simply aren't working.

My Top Five issues with the Star Trek Franchise-

So I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I consider myself a pretty hard core Trekkie, and befor you start with the "true fans call themselves trekker!" Crap, let me start with this Roddenbury used the term Trekkies, and when he was called to task for this at a convention he responded, "No, I made you, I get to name you," fair enough in my mind. But I want to declare myself a fan of Star Trek before I continue. What I say I say out of love and respect for the show. It's easy to attack something you hate. My writing a top five what is wrong with the Star Wars prequels would not only be an exceedingly easy former to write, and would most likely be agreed upon by most, but it would also join the millions of Megabytes of clever jar jar sucks rants already on the Internet, and it won't make fans stop and think. Where is the challenge in that? Stating that, I love Trek, but love means looking deep, not just blindly accepting all of it's flaws. And for all the incredible things about Star Trek, it does have it's flaws.  And this is my top five issues with this most venerated of science fiction sagas.

5-One Note Races- Now I put this as number five because it could be worse. Look at Star Wars were certain races aspire to very specific jobs. such as the huts who are almost always mobster, or how Rodians obsess about becoming bounty hunters mainly because the first ones we see on screens held these jobs. Also to be honest, most fantasy races are based on stereotypes of kinds of people we know, tolkien's elves, dwarves and hobbits coral ate to real world people, chances are you know someone who exhibits elven or dwarven characteristics. Trek races work very much on this mentality. This is why we don't have Klingon doctor characters, or  or Vulcan spies, as "vulcans don't lie." And when a race does break the bonds of this cultural stereotype, not only are they radical, but the lean toward becoming more human. Worf, Spock, and Nog become more "human by rejecting some of the notions of their social stereotypes. This makes these races less alien and more variants on the stereotypes of humanity. Compare this to say the Minbari in Babylon-5  whom while are often
seen as spritual and contemplative on the show, can be crass, rude, even downright belligerent, while
they too are more human than truly alien, it is nice to see races where there is no one specific mold where it is not a major story point NOT to act like the main characters.

4- Famous Firsts- Again, this is not a Trek only problem. We see this a lot in many fictions, it's normally a sign of poor writing, especially when it happens to so many characters. This is the notion to try to make a character extra special, The fact that not one man in 1000 could make it into the captain's chair not impressive enough for you? Viola, Kirk is also, the youngest person to ever do it! Being a half breed with an alien species not exotic enough? Poof! Spock is a singularly unique entity never to be seen again! In the pilot episode of Star Trek The Next Generation, Pickard passes another android in engineering, implying a ship having androids is common place, but in less than a season his secret origin reveals that despite the original series running into several tech caches of android technology, enough to make androids common place several decades later, Data is only one of two
unique devices made by dr. Noonian Singh. Worf? Oh, yeah he is the first and to date only Klingon
to join Starfleet. Geordi's visor, common place? NO it's a unique piece of tech, that no othe blind
person gets (which is espeically crappy when you see that if blindness is caused by genetic defect, we can't genetically modify a person to be sighted thanks to Khan......KHAN!!! )  think of some of the big innovators of our world today, and did they have to be the first or only to make an impact. Was Joss Wheadon, the youngest person ever to write for CBS? Was Steve Jobs the only person working on personal computing?  Was MacArthur the youngest general ever? No. And yet these people's stories can still be compelling. I would love to see more of the common crew in Star Trek, a ship that isn't the flagship with the best of the best of the best with honors. This is one of firefly's appeals, the characters aren't supremely awesome people with incredible gifts (o.k River aside that is). But they are ordinary folk in an Extrordinary world. As one Star Trek slogan is "the human adventure is just beginning!" It might help if the humans were, more human.

3- Enlightened, yet frightfully backwards- The last episode of Star Trek, Turnabout intruder, it is clearl and quite stupidly explained that women simply don't have the mental wherewithal to be Starship captains. And most of us turn a blind eye to this turd of an episode, as it was a dumb concept that Roddenbury didn't sign off on, and we all know better. Later in Trek we would see females take command, and yet when it came to Voyager we took a massive step backward. Janeway was not the ideal Starfleet captain, during a mutiny she cried on the shoulder of her  head mutineer, would Kirk have done that if Spock had mutinied? HELL NO! He's have slugged Spock and exclaimed "You never to that on MY ship mister!" Pickard? Sisko? still no! But janeway by sheer merit of chromosomes has to play it super feminine and cries on Tuvok's shoulder. And then there is Q. an ageless timeless and godlike being of no gender, who gets the hots for which captain? Janeway. They went out of their way sometimes to point out she was not a male. It got old, and could have been handled way better, then there is the whole no gay characters in Trek. Why not? in an inclusive environment as trek why are we going to ignore a diverse group based on sexuality? David Gerald's script blood and ire called for a gay couple, and it was ousted from TNG. (though the good folk at Star Trek Phase II, a fan series did it anyway!) I think this is one Roddenbury would have done but the studios were simply scared that their cash cow could offend, obviously missing that it was loved for it's inclusiveness such as a black woman as an officer and the first interracial kiss, and thus stifling what trek could be.

2- Continuity holes you can drive a Galaxy Class Star Ship through-I Know I Know, any show that has had over 40 years of continuity, multiple series, movies, games, comics,novels and cartoons can't hope to have a concise and perfectly written history that never overlaps and never contradicts itself. Too many chefs ruining the stew and all that. But sometimes you just have to try harder. Harder than the Trill who were an unknown race in the federation in TNG had an officer in the federation grooming Sisko, and helping the Klingons but knew nothing of his medical history. Or if the Dominion War was the biggest event in the federation since the Borg, where the hell was the federation's flagship during all this, Putzing around with the Sona, Really? and this wasn't some odd reference in classic trek that we forgot or chosen to ignore like the crap in turnabout intruder, this was stuff that was written in the series that had people working on all of this stuff at the same time dropping the ball. And don't even get me started on the multiple version of "do Klingons without ridges exist and why?" arguements.

1- Space Booze-  This one has always bothered me. So people in the 24th century without need of money will do work to fill a sense of self fulfillment, even crappy jobs most people today won't do for pay. We have eliminated most vices, no porn addicts in the 24th century, no amputees, and certainly no drugs. We as a species have grown out of using chemicals to get "high" and won't be addicted to these kinds of dangerous substances. Well, except booze. For all it's ills, for the countless examples of alcohol destroying lives, impairing judgement, and being a root cause of accidents. It's not only still acceptable in the 24th century, but almost required. But wait, they have a new kind of alcohol, called synthahol that allows you to "shake off" the effects at will. No one thought about cake that doesn't contribute to type 2 diabetes, but as long as we can still go on toquilla binges we are A OK. years ago Harlan Ellison wrote the script City on the Edge of Forever, in which Kirk and Spock would confront a junkie on the enterprise. The fact that there are no druggies in the future, would prompt Gene Roddenbury to rewrite the script. Something that really pissed off Ellison, Well sorry guys alcohol is a drug. You can't have Wesley give a moralistic questioning on how would people allow themselves to be addicted to some chemical, while Guinan is serving fuzzy navels in 10 forward. Funny thing is Roddenbury angered studio execs by banning smoking from the ship, meaning that he cut out the potential for tobacco advertising revenue. Yet this same man allowed all itterations of Trek to drink like Barney Gumbal, because of the weak plot device of new space booze, why? How is it people can evolve out of so much in Trek but not this? Don't get me wrong Star Wars, Babylon-5, Firefly all have booze, and bars, but they also have druggies, alcoholics, and all the real demons that alcohol brings making it a real part of the world for all its ills and allure. This is a good example though of trying too hard to keep one institution you do like while illogically condemning similar institutions you are against. Weak man, really weak.

To boldly sit around....

So I am at the end of a long project. I have been asked, told and even cajoled into this, but after powering through all 7 seasons I can state I have given Deep Space Nine as much of a chance as I possibly could, and still. I don't really care for it.

been a long time, but I'm Back Baby!

So I had another leave from my blog due to internet issues and then life issues on top, but that being said I go away and what the F&*( happened?!?!

First there is this thing about Ben Affleck becoming batman, You know so many people on the internet are freaking out about this one. I'll be fair, he isn't my first choice, but it could be so much worse. However the big scare for me with the new Justice League movies is who they have chosen to take the helm.

Zach Snyder. Look he's much like Affleck, not the worst choice but that doesn't really make him ideal. The oddball homophobic comments in both 300 (Leonidas making fun of the athenians for being both cowards and boy lovers is really odd considering the Spartans were all about fostering young men,) and Watchmen (making oh so subtle hints that Ozymandius was both european and gay, add nothing to the story at all!)make me wince and even without mention of this what he did in Man of Steel really shakes my faith in Superman making a more successful franchise. Wheadon has done an amazing job with the Avengers, and to be fair I am far more of a DC person than a Marvel guy but Marvel has been killing it! DC needs to turn it around and so far Superman/Batman promises to be the next Green Lantern, instead of a contender.  People put to much into the actor, Affleck could kill as Batman, he could suck at it, but I will say I have far more faith in him being a good Batman than Snyder directing/producing an incredible movie.

The new 52 strikes again, this time it's the Main Man that they are after. The last Czarnian, Lobo. Now for those of you who do not know who Lobo is and are reading this on my website, I must say "Wow, I am impressed, I would not have expected you to be reading this and not know who Lobo is but anyhoo here he is."

A crude, rude remorseless bounty hunter feared throughout the galaxy, kinda like Boba Fett, but interesting, cool, and actually effective. Also less silent. He's been rather popular in DC since the 1990s, and like many comic heroes has had his ebbs and flows with being popular. That being said, he's not so lame as to need a severe reboot like some heroes, but DC ever interested in reinventing the wheel as of late has given us this...

WHY GOD WHY!?!?! This isn't like rebuilding some lame old character to make them relevant to today's comic buying audience, this is more of the change for change's sake crap that DC has been selling throughout the new 52, well I AM NOT BUYING! The only way I would give a shit about this new design is if it was part of some new 52 parody where Lobo turn's his new 52 replacement into something the consistency of potato salad, and not that fancy stuff you find in delicatessan the squichy stuff you find in cans... So far 2013 is the becoming the year DC went crazy and ruined it's biggest characters.

Then there was this...

So here's my (admittedly late) take. You may have remembered several years ago, Janet Jackson had a "wardrobe malfunction" at the super bowl, and millions were outraged by how she had sullied the family entertainment that was football, you know someone's leg bends the wrong way and the kids should see it a woman's areola will however scar them for life. but at least in this mock outrage it wasn't expected. However the VMA's are always trying to be shocking, Brittany's spear's striptease, and kissing Madonna, having Russel Brand guest host (apparently being funny at W's expense is worth tons of hate mail and death threats). Add to that the predilection of former child actresses to try to prove they are "adult" by some act of sexual display. Alyssa Milanno starred in Bob Guchionni's Embrace the Vampire, and did a nude scene, Drew Barrymore played Amy Fisher and showed Dave Letterman her boobs, Selena Gomez recently in Spring Breakers and let's not forget Saved by the Bell's Jessie Spanno (Elizabeth Berkeley) doing that artistic film called Showgirls. Put these two facts together and honestly I'm more surprised we haven't seen a band do a full on roman orgy on stage. and to get upset or freaked out that a girl who want's to prove she's a woman by being provocative at a venue that is desperate to generate shock and buzz is like freaking out after watching Star Trek: Into Darkness, because a good chunk of the movie took place in space. Seriously people, Damn.

Well That's it for now, I need a shower after all that, Night all!