Get your butts out there and vote!

HAHAHAAH, please excuse my dorkiness!

Wha?!?  Really?!?

And even trolling through Target and my local grocery stores yesterday for my weekly shopping, there wasn’t the level of pandemonium you would expect from the news reports, but there was a level of urgency (as water and beer was emptied from store shelves).

The most some people did was check into Foursquare under “Frankenstorm Apocalypse – Hurricane Sandy“.  (No, there’s no badge offered for this check -in; fail.

Then this morning, television stations were preempting all their regular programming, delivering 24 hour coverage of the storm.  Winds out my window were breaking down tree branches, and I was notified that my office would possibly be closed again tomorrow, due to Sandy.

Ok, so this ISN’T like Irene.

So what now?  Here are a few things you may want to check out or do while this thing blows over:

• Head to the Google Crisis Map regarding Hurricane Sandy. Google has put together a map, tracking Sandy’s course, with info on active emergency shelters, if you have yet to evacuate and need to, wind speeds, and areas where Sandy is heading.
• For those of you who have smart phones and take public transit (specifically the trains), I highly suggest you get “Embark NYC” on your android or iOS devices.  It doesn’t just give you maps for the subway system, but alerts about line disruptions as well as massive service disruptions, and advisories.  The app is free.
• If you’re not in front of a desktop or a laptop, and want to keep up to date on Sandy, you can pick up the weather channel app, which is also available for both android and iOS.  They also offer you video updates on what’s going on, if you are adverse to reading.

Consider today a “snowday”.  What will I do doing?  Most likely watching the new episode of “Epic Rap Battles of History” and wondering  if I have to set my alarm clock for work tomorrow.

Epic Lloyd and Nice Peter and pretty awesome. ^_^

What are you doing during the storm?  Any comments?  Let me know!

So let me start by saying that I don’t “like” either Mitt Romney or President Obama. I don’t think that either of them is a good choice for the office. In fact, I would rather swim with sharks than be forced to choose one of these two. So that is what I did! While in Africa, Mrs. Weapon and I did a little shark diving and safari-taking. We shot a ton of pictures and a lot of HD video. Here is my first attempt at creating a short movie using the shark footage from our dive:

It should be noted that Mrs. Weapon did, in fact, get in the cage. I wasn’t convinced that she would have the nerve to do so, but she didn’t hesitate and that reminded me that I married the right woman. I, on the other hand, couldn’t get enough. They literally had to tell me to get out of the water. I loved every minute of it.

Now on to the points… We are now through two Presidential debates and a VP debate. My thoughts on the winners so far:

Presidential Debate #1 –  I really felt that Mitt Romney took Obama to the tool shed in this one. He was on point, threw out facts and left Obama dazed and stumbling over words. I think that what this really showed us is that Obama is not a good “debater”. He is great at being a likable guy. He is great at presenting pre-thought out ideas and speeches. But put him in a real debate where he has to think on his feet and he is well below standard. Winner… Romney

VP Debate – I would say in terms of actually dealing with policy and facts, the debate was a virtual tie. But I think that the sheer childishness and disrespect displayed by Biden was a real turn-off for a lot of people. He literally acted like what Democrats are attempting to run against: a spoiled frat boy. As a result, I think he actually turned off a lot of women voters, who don’t like that type of behavior in a candidate. Winner… Draw

Presidential Debate #2 – I felt as though Mitt was winning this early and Obama rallied back in the second half. The turning point was the moderator’s false interjection claiming Romney was wrong. From that point on, Romney wasn’t as confident and ended up appearing weak. I actually believe that the exchange with Crowley was pre-planned by the Democrats (there is some great analysis of this being potentially true out there). And it was effective. Dirty trick? Sure. But the reality is that a man who wants to be President shouldn’t get flustered like Romney did. Winner… CNN

But I do believe overall that Romney has seen the most gain through the first two Presidential debates. I think he has often made Obama appear far less polished than the Obama we are used to seeing and he further appeared for more knowledgable and likable than I think many thought he could be. HOWEVER, I still believe that the best debate between Romney and Obama was one that hasn’t been on National TV:

I am looking forward to the last debate. It will focus on Foreign Policy and that is one of the areas that is of interest to me. I believe Romney will be stronger here, but time will tell. I also believe that I will disagree with both of them in this arena. They will be playing to their bases, and neither will offer the non-interventionist policy that I would agree with.

What is really making me sad in this election cycle is the devolvement of the debate to talking points and social networking pictures that are all playing to the dumbest among us. Of course the talking points issue has always been around over the last half century. But I believe it is getting worse. The discourse in this election has again fallen to the level of personal attacks, mockery, and blatantly misleading talking points and sound bytes. A few of the highlights:

• Mitt Romney did not say he wouldn’t represent 47% of the country. He was talking strategy on votes and correctly said that he can’t worry about the 47% who will vote for Obama no matter what. That an incumbent President would latch onto this and maliciously portray it falsely speak volumes about how far the office has fallen.
• President Obama did not say business owners didn’t build their business. He was talking about the infrastructure that supports business (roads, shipping, etc) and correctly noted that this infrastructure wasn’t built by those businesses but they benefit from it. That a presidential candidate would latch onto this and maliciously portray it falsely says tons about how crappy the alternative is.

Those are just an example on each side of how childish and elementary this Presidential campaign has become. 30 years ago the full clip would have come to light and the candidate who falsely portrayed the other would have taken a really negative hit in their numbers for intentionally lying to the American people. Now, each side accepts this as part of the game. How sad is that?

Let’s be honest with each other here. We have seen childish games in the past. Gotcha politics isn’t something new. But honestly, can anyone remember a time when when an entire political campaign, on both sides, was so centrally based on nothing but propaganda? There is literally not a bit of substance in this entire campaign. No one is debating the issues earnestly. The game at this point is to find a way to portray the other side’s position in the worst possible light without any semblance of attempting to at least trying to portray the other’s position accurately.

And let’s be honest as well…. The accurate position of each party on certain issues is certainly bad enough without having to falsely twist that position beyond reality. I really believe that had either side in this election actually refrained from these tactics while simultaneously repeatedly pointing it out on the other side, they would have gotten a 5%-10% swing in their direction for doing so. There are a lot of Americans who see through this stuff and hate it, but they aren’t given an alternative because both sides are doing it!

And to take this election’s ugliness to another level, we have Facebook and other social networking sites. As a regular follower on Facebook, I am forced to digest the constant flow of misleading and ridiculous postings that get “shared” by every non-critical thinker that agrees with that party. Want a few examples?

All of these above are bullshit in one way or another. Many are simply vast over-simplifications that only tell part of the story or attribute all the blame to only one side or person. All of them were pulled off of Facebook postings or shares within the last two days. THIS is the primary source of political information for an entire group of people. And how sad is that? As I said, every single one of the things up there is misleading in some way, some more blatant than others (for example Romney would support overturning Roe, but cannot do it, so this is attempting to falsely scare people to vote against him). And we find all of this acceptable discourse in modern politics.

To quote our good friend JAC… We are all Screwed.

 vs.

This week the theme is “Famous (Or Not So Famous) Duos” and we’re gonna kick things off with a clip from our buddies at Epic Rap Battles of History. I pity the fool who messes with the ‘hood…that is, the “Neighborhood”. OK, Mr. T vs Mr. Rogers. GO!

2012 (1 tracks, 1:42)

reggae/ska

2012 (1 tracks, 1:42)

reggae/ska

The Concept: Two historical figures engage in a rap battle. Hordes of quote-worthy NSFW insults ensue.

The idea of ERB could easily fall on its face with a less talented group, but NicePeter and EpicLloyd (as well as their many guest performers) are pretty damn good at what they do. Ever wanted to see Christopher Columbus rap against Captain Kirk? Probably not, but I’m pretty sure you do now. They’ve been going strong for two seasons now, and a new release is always a cause for celebration amongst my circle of friends. It’s hard to choose an absolute favorite, but I CAN tell you which ones are top tier to me at least.

Honorable Mention: Abe Lincoln vs. Chuck Norris

The Battle of the Beards was one of the first ERB’s that I watched and still stands as one of the most entertaining for sure. Also, Abe Lincoln sporting a grill amuses me greatly for some random reason.

5. Justin Bieber vs. Beethoven

Beethoven is by far my favorite character out of all of the battles, ESPECIALLY after he flips over the piano. While Bieber did have some pretty decent lines, ol’ Ludwig unleashed a verbal fury whose awesomeness can not be disputed.

4. Napoleon Dynamite vs. Napoleon Bonaparte

First off, props to NicePeter for his spot-on impression of Napoleon Dynamite in both his looks and cadence. But busting out a few lines in French? Most impressive, Mr. Bonaparte.

3. Master Chief vs. Leonidas

The Battle of the Spartans sees Leonidas from 300 in all of his chest-kicking glory go toe-to-toe with the alien-horde slaying protagonist of the Halo series. NOTHING was off limits in this one. I think the only thing they didn’t talk about was each others mothers.

2. Mr. T vs. Mr. Rogers

One of things that cinched this battle for me is Mr. Rogers’ calm and collected wording. Contrast that with Destorm’s harsher delivery as the former Clubber Lang, and you’ve got one of the more memorable battles for sure. Also, a Mr. Rogers break-dancing interlude? How awesome is that?

1. Darth Vader vs. Hitler (Part 2)

Season Two kicked off with a rematch of one of the first battles the duo put out. While a lot of the battles are a bit more obvious as to who dominated, an argument could easily be made for either one in BOTH meetings.

[There are a few others that I feel bad not including; Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking as well as Dr. Seuss vs. Shakespeare immediately spring to mind]

So, what random tidbits from the bowels of the internet do you dig? Share with meeeeeee!

2012 (1 tracks, 1:42)

reggae/ska

As for the Purity rewrite, I’m around 50 000 words in, and the main plots are all underway, but due to a technical issue, I have almost zero desire to write any more. More on that shortly.

I think part of this can be blamed on the summer sale on Steam. Thanks to glorious 50-75% off sales on most of their titles, I finally got the pets expansion to Sims 3, as well as the GOTY Morrowind. I have Morrowind for xbox, but I can’t play it, due to the horrible graphical and engine-related deficiencies in a game ten years old. So while they were installing, I found a Morrowind graphics and sounds overhaul package, and modded it in. So Morrowind looks great, and even though the engine is still difficult to play, I’ve worked around it and got into a sort of pattern. It helps that I play as a mage, so it’s easier to actually hit enemies and level.

Then, just yesterday, my brother pointed out that Saints Row the Third and all expansions etc, is on sale for $13. Regular $104. 87% off. How could I not, after how much I enjoyed Saints Row 2? That’s still downloading now, because I accidentally paused it overnight.

So with virtual kitties and horsies and puppies and Ashlanders and Caius and the Nerevarine, it seems to make sense that I haven’t been writing. It’s painful, but still.

Does anyone have any suggestions for overcoming writer’s block? I want to write, but I’ve stalled. Short of turning off my internet so I can’t get distracted by comics, social media, and video games (because, as it turns out, I can’t survive without constant access to the interwebz), is there anything anyone can suggest?

On a side note, one of my many t-shirts that I order online has come today: Vader vs Hitler from Epic Rap Battles of History. The others (Rub Some Bacon On It, Enchantment, Adept, and Mother of Dragons) are on their way still. Soon, hopefully!

Chillin’ like a villain. This is me on an average day.

Also, I’m going to do a review sort of of one of my favourite webcomics, Blue Milk Special (for that matter, maybe of my other favourite, Unsounded), and I feel like I had some other sort of post planned, but if I forgot it, must not be that important.

Oh, and the issue with Purity. When I went to write more the other day, I clicked on an past scene (as I’m writing it in Scrivener, rather than my usual lover, MS Word, and Scrivener separates each individual scene) and for whatever reason, Scrivener didn’t like that. I only clicked on it, for Heaven’s sake, and some sort of message popped up. It didn’t seem particularly aggressive or notable, and my only option was to click OK.

So I did, and promptly lost that ENTIRE SCENE. With NO way of getting it back other than rewriting it. So I’m pissed. I’m glad I haven’t actually bought Scrivener, because that’s just silly. I think I’ll stick with my baby, Word, from now on.

But yes. Help me with my writer’s block! Any suggestion is a good one at this point. I’m desperate, here.

(En ja, ik ken de tekst uit mijn hoofd. En de bewegingen. ~nolife~)

2012 (1 tracks, 1:42)

reggae/ska

SuperEliasTM

Epic Rap Battles Of History

FIFAComedyOriginals

RayWilliamJohnson

“One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.”

Of course, the above quote displays certainty which therefore makes Russell stupid.

Did you think that one all the way through, Bertrand?

May I suggest an Epic Rap Battle of History with Bertrand Russell versus Socrates? The basic premise would be one of braggadocio about which philosopher knows less and possesses more doubt and indecision.

Let me know what you prefer!

Apple or Windows?