Rape

Well, this'll probably be a downer. It's definitely going to be a violent post, not just because of the subject matter but because of my response really. TVTropes is a wonderful way to learn about interesting views society holds on certain things. I've pretty much been reading non-stop rape-releated tropes (no, I'm not into it) for the past half-an-hour, and it's...fascinating, really. What I like about TVTropes is the inclination to provide real world stories.

I'll start with the old classic. Is raping a prostitute considered theft? According to one (FEMALE) Philadelphia judge, it is.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,307245,00.html

The line of reasoning is interesting, though irrelevant to what happened here. The judge essentially argued that the order of affairs would have been as followed:

1. Prostitute consents

2. Prostitute acts
3. Prostitute is not paid.

4. Rape?

She has already rendered the "service" but then isn't paid. It's treated as "She consented, and then she didn't." Course, in this particular case the hooker was forced to do so at gunpoint, which was...definitely not the same as consenting and then being angry about not being paid. And for that matter, why a hooker would consent to the act prior to being paid I'm not sure. Stuff like this is why I think we need to legalize prostitution. These are just a few examples of cases that make being a hooker so incredibly dangerous in this society. And when stuff like this happens, it is really hard to want to go to the police for help. Not only is all of your dirty laundry being poured out for the rest of the world to hear, and not only will the defense probably trot out your "dirty" and "illegal" lifestyle out to basically degrade you into an animal more than a human being, but the fact of the matter is that this particular area is so incredibly legally gray that settling it from a purely law-based stand point is very difficult. Besides which, legalizing prostitution would really cut into the power of organized crime, who are major abusers of call-girls and hookers anyways. And in any case, legalizing prostitution definitely makes tracking STD pandemics much easier to do. But what do I know. The moral majority clearly knows better than I do, and have proven that their guardianship has eliminated prostitution completely. Oh...wait...

Equally interesting is social views of men being raped. Traditionally, men are not seen as victims of "rape" because raping a man just is not possible. This idea is prevalent even today.

http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunnybusiness/144093.html

It's hard for me to qualify because I think given a situation like this one, legal justice isn't the first thing that comes to mind. I realize this isn't something I should advocate via internet, but I do feel that a lot of times crimes are not best handled by the authority. They are cold and impersonal. They aren't a part of the involvement, and there's a lot that goes into certain crimes that the police can't undo. When a woman is raped, for example, the rapist often lives in the head of the victim. Put the victim away in prison, and regardless the woman will be victimized in her mind by the trauma. In situations like this, I do advocate going above the law and seeking out one's own justice. I guess what I'm saying is that in a situation like this, if a stripper decided to...use a sex object in such a manner against my permission, I would probably just beat the shit out of her on the spot. I'd advocate the same thing if a woman were forcibly violated. If she could, beat the ever-loving Hell out of the bastard, no holds barred. But I don't know, even with my common sense telling me there isn't much of a difference between the two cases, it's just...weird to me to think of men getting raped.

Another example.

http://www.travelintelligence.com/travel-writing/culture-shock

A unique and interesting story, to be sure. Not somewhere I'd want to travel without weapons at my disposal. And another example:

http://rt.com/Top_News/2009-04-14/Hairdresser_turns_robber_into_sex-slave.html?fullstory

Though she is getting charged, that is quite frankly some straight up "Saw" movie type of perversion. But still, somehow I don't see this as bad as raping women. And I've thought long and hard about why, and I think I do sort of have an answer. It has a lot to do with the ass-beating I mentioned earlier that I'd have given that stripper on the spot. Rape is about power, as the saying usually goes. And I think for me, the simple ability to beat my rapist to death is a symbol of regaining that power. But on average, it's easier for a man to beat a woman to death than vice-versa. In traditional depictions of rape between a man and a woman, it ends with the woman on the floor, humiliated, and in tears. I will admit I've never been in the situation, but as a generally very angry person, I find it likely that my first response would be to inflict as much bodily harm as possible. And if I can maintain enough of my mental poise, to prolong that beat down for as long as possible.

But I dunno, maybe my perspective is flawed. It's not something I'd thought about prior to reading up TVTropes. What do you guys think?

The First Ever Well Intentioned Blogcast

This is sort of an experiment just to see what it's like. Please please please give me feedback! It is fairly lengthy, so by all means don't listen to it all if you don't want to, and criticize anything (including length!). It's a standard .wmv file so it should work on just about any media player.

http://rapidshare.com/files/379494631/Firsteverblogcast.wma.html

Thanks guys!

Edit: Click on "Free User" to get it. You just have to wait a few seconds to download longer.

Muzik!

When I finally lose it and start blowing buildings up, I will probably appear on national TV while this is playing.

Letter of Marque

I've just sent an email to state representative Lamar Smith asking that Congress grant me a Letter of Marque. Upon receiving this, I plan to go to Russia and steal the Lun-class Ekranoplan, hire a crew (primarily of lolis), and become an airship pirate.

Here's the email I sent him:

"Dear Representative Lamar Smith:

Upon my reading of Article 1 of our United States Constitution, I discovered that our Congress still retains the ability to grant Letters of Marque to individuals. As the last letter of marque was given in World War II, I believe that our country is long overdue to return to the time honored tradition of privateering. While many may claim that the age of swashbuckling pirates sailing the seas is long past, it is my opinion that in this day and age, we are in need of these dashing rogues more than ever. The so called “pirates” in Somalia wouldn’t last long when presented with a full 64 cannon broadside from a Ship of the Line, and I am confident that Al Qaeda would crumble against a landing party armed with blunderbusses. And there is truly nothing more American than a good old fashioned swashbuckler. They represent the old pioneering spirit of our nation, for a pirate does what he wants because a pirate is free. Indeed, it has been said that if you love to sail the sea, you are a pirate. And given the already large number of people who celebrate “Talk Like a Pirate Day” in our country, pirate culture has strong roots in our nation. Were the Congress to once more give out letters of marquee, there would no doubt be dozens, nay, hundreds of applicants, quickly arming our nation with a considerable force of privateers, to defend our citizens and trade, and fight our enemies.
In light of these facts, I wish to request a Letter of Marque be granted to me, so that I may become a privateer in the service of the United States government. I already have heard from multiple people interested in joining any privateer crew I form, and have found a ship, which I am currently attempting to acquire. With this ship and crew, I shall do battle against the enemies of our fair country, capturing the ships of our foes in name of freedom and liberty!

Sincerely,
Sean O’Neill"

Unsafe Sex on the Rise

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/sexual-health/womens-sexual-health/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100253288

I know I shouldn't be enjoying something like the rise of STDs as much as I am right at this moment, but if there's one thing I love more than sex, it's...well, there is this one other thing, but I was going to say "being right." Specifically:

"Some experts blame eight years of abstinence-only education—the only sex ed that was federally funded under President George W. Bush—for not only failing to inform younger women about the dangers of unprotected oral sex, but also for actually fueling its popularity. "A lot of teenagers reduced the message to 'I must abstain from the kind of sex that makes a baby,'" says Nack. For young women, oral sex pleased their partners and preserved their virginity, as did anal sex, another risky sexual behavior that's becoming more prevalent. According to the CDC's National Survey of Family Growth, nearly 35 percent of women ages 25 to 44 engage in anal sex.

"Women are complying with anal sex to the point that they're damaging themselves," says Dr. Drew, who notes that today's young men are obsessed with the practice thanks to its prominence in porn. "No matter how much it hurts, the women are like, 'Well, I want to make him happy.' It's the most bizarre thing in the world." "

I love it! Not because of an interest in anal sex, but because this means the moral majority has been actively promoting sodomy! Come on, that's bloody funny. No pun intended. Also, that's a great argument against porn, eh Mr. Ron Jeremy?

Oh well. Such is life, I suppose.

Give This Man A Prize

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/nurtureshock/archive/2009/11/05/why-teenagers-are-growing-up-so-slowly-today.aspx?obref=obnetwork

"Basically, we long ago decided that teens ought to be in school, not in the labor force. Education was their future. But the structure of schools is endlessly repetitive. “From a Martian’s perspective, high schools look virtually the same as sixth grade,” said Allen. “There’s no recognition, in the structure of school, that these are very different people with different capabilities.” Strapped to desks for 13+ years, school becomes both incredibly montonous, artificial, and cookie-cutter.

As Allen writes, “We place kids in schools together with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of other kids typically from similar economic and cultural backgrounds. We group them all within a year or so of one another in age. We equip them with similar gadgets, expose them to the same TV shows, lessons, and sports. We ask them all to take almost the exact same courses and do the exact same work and be graded relative to one another. We give them only a handful of ways in which they can meaningfully demonstrate their competencies. And then we’re surprised they have some difficulty establishing a sense of their own individuality.” "

And

"Without painful real-life experiences, modern teens’ brains never learn to tell the difference between what they should fear and what they shouldn’t. Without real consequences and real rewards, teens never learn to distinguish between good risks they should take and bad risks they shouldn’t."

As well as

"As for the risk behavior we associate with adolescence, Allen cautions that “We don’t give teens enough ways to take risks that are productive.” So they turn to drinking, drug use, delinquency, and the like – because those are the only things thrilling. “According to Allen, teens aren't naturally passive – their environment makes them passive. We’re writing them off at exactly the time we need to bring out their potential."

Wow, it's almost as if coddling children makes them worse off! Like, as if somehow if given their own incentives and opportunities to excel, as opposed to drilling pointless shit into their skulls repetitively ad nauseum for the entirety of the life they can remember, they are less angry and driven to fuck over the system. Huh. Who woulda thought?

You know, parents always get on kids nowadays about how we don't have "perspective." Kids don't understand the long-term. I think the exact same applies to parents. They, too, have no perspective. The entirety of a child's existence until they get out of high school IS THE EXACT BLOODY SAME. Every single bloody year, it's monotony, mediocrity, and stupidity. And then parents wonder why kids lack the motivation to continue on their education and instead decide to do drugs/drink/fuck. Kids don't know anything else. Hell, I don't really know anything else. My life has been one continuous experience of school. I don't know anything about the real world. And if my bitter, vitriolic, hate-filled rantings are any indication, I'm sick of it. And life-in-fucking-general.

So yes, I lack perspective. Because the crippling, repetitive system of constant 8-class bombardment (now 5-class bombardment which I can plan around my scheduling desires, which is a step up) ensures my imagination and desire to do anything meaningful in life is crushed. I consider myself lucky that I broke out of my own mold the way I did, because it's one of the few ways I can stay sane and live as an independent thinker with decent ambition. How is not really anything I intend to discuss here, because this isn't the time or the place. Suffice to say, I got lucky. I've seen kids who were damn smart give up because there's no reason to think any year will be any different than any other. Keep telling us there's hope at the end of the tunnel, and year after year it amounts to the same. We're told to worry about Middle School, that if we get good grades for the entirety of our Middle School years we'll be rewarded. And during High School, the same thing happens. We're told that if we get good grades, we'll be rewarded. And we get to college. And the same thing happens. I'll admit that at least after high school it's a question of which college you're going to get into, but even then it's a continuation of the same lifestyle. How's that for perspective? Over 20 years of repetition with no reward in sight.

I'd love to tie this into my own ideas of the importance of survival and struggle in one's life, but that one's biased. It probably also only applies to me as far as I know. I hate living in bland comfort. I love fighting, struggle, and conflict, which is probably why I'm so drawn to politics, and why I'm so argumentative. I don't like being comfortable. But being beaten to death by a stone slab across my skull (read: school work) is not my idea of survival. It's about monotony, about setting aside the time to do this shit. College isn't hard. It takes more time than previously, but there's no inherent skill or risk-taking. There's no chance that you won't succeed as long as you beat your head against it long enough. At least for now. Who knows, maybe in the near future some class will completely kick my ass and I'll be fighting tooth-and-nail to maintain a C. That'll probably be the year I have to take math again. And I kinda look forward to it.

Until then, though, my life will continue to be that same drab gray it's always been, and probably always will be. Especially since thanks to my current predicament, escapism is a bit more...difficult. So I'm kind of stuck. But that's life I guess. Maybe some day something challenging will come across my way.

And in other news, domestic terrorism!

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/04/13/ex-marine-provided-hutaree-hit-list-of-judges-and-elected-officials-and-served-as-group-s-heavy-gunner.aspx?obref=obnetwork

And who might these Hutaree folks be?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1361

http://www.hutaree.com/About%20Us.html

Hmmm. I'm not really sure what there is left to say. It sort of speaks for itself. Sadly, I'm burnt out on hypocrisy to actually want to even discuss this in a decent, rational manner. The extent of my involvement is me publicly admitting I hope they all simultaneously burst into flames and die.

More Interesting Stories

George Washington overdue on some books

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36616600/ns/us_news/?Gt1=43001

And this is just a nerd-gasm.

http://www.justgetthere.us/blog/archives/Augmented-Reality-in-a-Contact-Lens.html

Perhaps We Should Send Some Ritalin To Washington

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304506904575180331528424238.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, with the new health care bill passed, the United States may find itself short by 150,000 doctors within the next 15 years. Which, in case you were wondering, would be a bad thing. Doctors take years to train, so a shortage of general practitioners is a serious thing. We can’t just fix the problem in a few months; it would take years, starting now, to even begin to address the problem.

The bill does address the problem somewhat, by giving monetary incentive to primary care doctors, however, the cause of the shortage isn’t lack of people trying to become doctors, it’s the lack of residency positions available. “The residency is the minimum three-year period when medical-school graduates train in hospitals and clinics.” In 1997, Congress put a cap on the funding residency positions can receive, severely restricting the amount of new doctors we can train. This was not addressed in the health care bill, and remains in effect. There is a lot of work being done to try and address the problem, but according to the AAMC’s chief advocacy officer, Atul Grover, "It will probably take 10 years to even make a dent into the number of doctors that we need out there.”


This article is really starting to give me a new way of looking at the Obama administration. To me, they’re starting to look like a really hyper kid with ADD. They just can’t focus on one idea, working on it until it’s actually a feasible legislation. Instead, they’re trying to get everything done at once, rushing stuff through Congress, never actually looking at what they’re doing long enough to realize, “Hey, this might not be such a good idea…. Perhaps we should think about this before trying to make it a law?”
I mean, hell, his administration seems to go something like, “Okay, elected, bailout, bailout, saving the economy, okay that’s all good, gotta go save our foreign affairs, good, everyone loves us now, time for Afghanistan, send in troops, troops, troops, okay forget that now, rescuing health care, gotta pass the bill, gotta pass the bill no matter what, bill’s passed, focus on the environment, oh crap, economies still not in good shape, time to save that again….”
What exactly was the purpose of rushing all these things? Why did the health care bill need to be passed so quickly? I’ve heard some people say they were trying to get it passed before the public support for it went away, but a lot of their public support was vanishing because of all the shortcuts they were taking to get it passed! Sure, taking your time may not be glamorous, and it definitely isn’t always the solution, but there was no imminent crisis that required we fix health care NOW. Had they actually focused on fine tuning and perfecting the bill instead of just trying to get it passed as fast as possible, they might have actually taken into account the lack of doctors, and provided means to help that. Or they may have even, dare I say, convinced people to vote for the bill by addressing their concerns instead of just giving their state special benefits?

And now that the health care bill’s been passed, the administration, like any good child with Attention Deficit Disorder, has completely lost interest and is now chasing their new pet project, fixing the economy and our budget (again). Here’s they’re latest idea on solving our budget problem (link courtesy of Damios):

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/108/1083875p1.html

Yes, it’s just as ridiculous as it sounds. I can just imagine the White House staff sitting around one day, playing Mario Party, and one of them says, “Hey, video games are awesome! We should use video games to solve all our problems!” And thus, this was born.


And here’s Obama’s latest bill for fixing our economy:

http://financialservices.house.gov/Key_Issues/Financial_Regulatory_Reform/FinancialRegulatoryReform/4173highlightsFINAL.pdf

This bill seems to be another case of a bunch of people shouting ideas that sound really good without actually stopping to think about what they’re saying. Here’s some of the worst examples:


“The bill creates an inter-agency oversight council that will identify financial companies that are so large, interconnected, or risky that their collapse would put the entire economy at risk. These systemically risky firms will be subject to heightened oversight, standards, and regulation. “

Let me get this straight. You’re going to identify large corporate bodies with connections to multiple aspects of our economy, whose collapse could destroy our economy…. And you’re going to put restrictions on them? Do you realize what regulations do? They weaken a company! If you find someone holding up the building, you don’t try to prevent the roof from falling by putting weights on the man!

“If a large institution collapses, the bill holds Wall Street - not taxpayers - accountable. Any costs associated with dismantling a failed firm will be paid first from the company’s assets at the expense of shareholders and creditors. Any additional costs will then be covered by a “dissolution fund” pre-funded by large financial companies. “

A “dissolution fund”? You’re basically asking companies to pay an additional tax to cover the cost if someone else collapses? Wall Street is not some single, large entity! The heads of corporations do not gather together to discuss how they will make money/rule their shadow government! You can’t treat all companies involved in Wall Street as though they were one, because they aren’t! While it does make sense for a company to cover the cost of its own collapse, making other companies to do the same is just nonsense!

“The bill will create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA), a new federal agency solely devoted to protecting Americans from unfair and abusive financial products and services. Last year’s crisis demonstrated that deceptive products – such as predatory mortgages and hidden credit card fees – can not only damage the livelihoods of American families, they can destabilize the entire economy.”

Because that’s just what we need. Another agency. Weren’t you trying to reduce debt a few minutes ago?

This entire thing is just reaching a level of absurdity I didn’t even think possible. Damios has the right idea; screw all of it, and just laugh at the ridiculousness of our world.

Morbid News

Dead man elected mayor in Tennessee.

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1110ap_us_odd_dead_election_winner.html?source=mypi

Third Grader peddles Heroin

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/pennsylvania/20100414_ap_policesaypa3rdgraderhadheroinatschool.html

A bit of an oldie; Pederast Priests do Global Shuffle

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36523444/ns/world_news-world_faith

Wii Fit Nerve Damage Causes Woman to Become a Nymphomaniac

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/99974-Woman-Falls-Off-Wii-Balance-Board-Turns-Into-Nymphomaniac

Doctors are Doing More Research on Psychadelic Drugs as Cure for Depression (VERY interesting)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/science/12psychedelics.html?src=me&ref=general

Nebraska Establishes New Laws to Restrict Abortion

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/us/14abortion.html?bl

New Senate Bill for Economic Regulation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/14/AR2010041403322.html?hpid=topnews

(another interesting one. Best line:

"Some private research groups estimate that acting as middlemen -- "swap dealers," in Wall Street parlance -- generates $20 billion to $40 billion every year for large Wall Street firms. Trading in derivatives, which officials estimate have a paper value of half a quadrillion dollars, exacerbated the recent financial crisis.")

Democratic Senator Wants $23 Billion Bailout for Public Schools to Save Teaching Jobs

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/14/AR2010041402043.html?hpid=moreheadlines

And that's all for now. Stay tuned, and stay educated.

New Evidence that Black Holes May Contain Universes

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100409-black-holes-alternate-universe-multiverse-einstein-wormholes/

Well, I'd say that's pretty nifty. It isn't something I haven't heard before, but my previous experience with the idea has been through sci-fi, not a scientific hypothesis. It's even more interesting for me because, this semester, I'm taking a course on the science and mythology of the creation of the universe. But if it's true that our universe exists within a black hole from another universe.... It kinda makes me wanna find a way to travel to the universes we were created from, until I can find the first. I'm curious as to what I'd find there.

Alternative Fuel Source

Ian found a great article in the New York Times about an alternative fuel system used by Denmark. He probably put it best in his description.

"With all the garbage we generate, we need to start doing this shit in America: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/scienc

e/earth/13trash.html?partner=rss&emc=rss"

Thanks for the find! Certainly seems like something that could definitely do a "two birds with one stone" number here.

Eight Minutes of Courage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI1FP3czJnY


This should be required viewing in our elementary schools. The kids who grow up on this will take over the world, and lead us to complete conquest of the universe within a week, tops.

Ha. Haha. Hahahaha....HahahahHAhaHaHahaHahahaAHAHaAhAhaha!!!!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/watercooler/2010/apr/10/obama-interns-me-not-thee/

http://www.statesman.com/opinion/shlaes-by-targeting-unpaid-internships-the-obama-administration-535364.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/apr/07/obama-eyes-interns/

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/04/08/barack-obama-bans-college-internships-but-only-in-free-enterprise/

I...I...I...

GRARAGHRGHG!!!!

ARE YOU SHITTING ME? I can't even fucking *think* right now. Worker abuse? THEY'RE INTERNS!!! THEY CAN LEAVE!!! I get that you feel sorry for these poor interns because they aren't getting paid and are asked to do a lot, BUT THEY'RE FUCKING INTERNSHIPS! THEY ARE A KEY STEPPING STONE TO DEVELOPING WORKING SKILLS!!!!! PUT DOWN THE FUCKING PEN, STOP WRITING RANDOM-AS-FUCK LEGISLATION, AND FOR ONCE THINK ABOUT WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE DOING! UNPAID INTERNSHIPS ARE DESIGNED TO GET PEOPLE WORK SKILLS!!!!!!!! WORK SKILLS THEY NEED TO GET REAL JOBS TO ACTUALLY GET PAID!!!! IF YOU CUT THEM THEN AN INCREDIBLY LARGE AMOUNT OF INTERNSHIPS WILL BE LOST AND WORKSKILLS WILL NOT DISSEMINATE INTO THE PUBLIC LIKE NORMAL!!! WHAT THE FUCK DUDE?!

WHAT.
THE.
FUCK.

OHBUTWAIT

You know who DOES get to give unpaid internships?!?!?!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/sofaq/

HAHAHAHAHA. JOKE'S ON US AMERICA. LAUGH! LAUGH WITH ME! COME ON, YOU CAN DO IT! IT GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS!

It Makes Me Sad

The method in which the people in charge of my dorm distribute information tends to be through the tried and true method of putting up pieces of paper with the information on it every few feet in every hallway of the building. I usually only glance at them once to see if anything on it applies to me, and then ignore them until they are torn down and replaced by another set.

I came back from a race in Austin this weekend, and find a fresh new set of papers covering every available surface in the building. These have to do with the U.S. census. The message on them is simply a picture of Uncle Sam, with the caption "Attend the MANDATORY 8:00 PM Census meeting in the lobby! Or the US Government may fine you!"

*Sigh*
The Uncle Sam poster, that of the image they're using for their announcement, was used in World War 2 as a recruitment poster; the famous "I Want YOU! For U.S. Army!" It was meant to bring in volunteers, people who were choosing to fight in the army against the Axis. Yeah, the draft went and would grab most of the other people who didn't volunteer, but the purpose of the poster itself was to bring in people who were, under their own decision, choosing to join a very dangerous organization for some larger purpose.
To me, it really says a lot about our current mentality (or at least the mentality of college students) that an icon whose purpose was to inspire choice is now being used for the purpose of forcing compliance. "Do this or else!" is a far cry from "Do this because we believe it to be the right thing to do!" I would think that they would try and convince us by pointing out the benefits that the census brings, or the necessity for a large government to have a semi-accurate count of its population, but no. We fall back onto threats.

Surprisingly enough, I'm not holding the U.S. government to blame for this; they're not the ones who made those posters. It's both the belief that threats are what's needed to convince the people living in this dorm to fill out their census, along with the fact that, given how shortsightedly ignorant most of this building's inhabitants are to the potential benefits that come from an accurate census count, that disappoints me. Thankfully, I already held such a low opinion of humanity by this point, that my opinion can't drop any further just because of some little thing like this. Yay, cynicism!

I, For One, Will Welcome Our New Russian Overlord

Dear Vladimir Putin,

I hope this blog reaches you. I know you're busy plotting the demise of every enemy who dares oppose you, hiring squads of agents to set up bombs in hidden locations and plotting the assassination of key world leaders. Stuff like the Black Widow bombings are still being investigated and I am sure are taking up lots of your time. But I just wanted to write this letter to let you know that I am your biggest fan. I never really get to say this often enough. Your work is fantastic. Everything, from the time you threatened to castrate fundamental Islamic terrorists on national TV to blitzing Georgia so hard they didn't even know what was coming, makes me realize that you are a rare gift to the world. Mr. Putin, we need more people like you in charge.

I say this because recent events have once again got me thinking about you. Namely...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-polish-president-crash11-2010apr11,0,4409138.story

Let me just say this. There are, in my mind, two distinct and clear possibilities for this. One, that it was no accident. In which case, my hats off to you Mr. Putin. It's been a long time since anything of this caliber has been attempted, and you pulled it off magnificently. It looks and plays out exactly like a real accident, mist and all. The other possibility is that it was a truly legitimate accident. In which case, the world seems to have a fondness for you that almost matches my own.

I look forward to the day you end up ruling the world. Your ambition, your amoral cunning, your intolerance of human stupidity and the weak who defy and stand before you all build my admiration of your skill, technique, and poise. You are everything any decent, strong human being could ever want in a leader. So thank you, for standing out and shining in a world filled with mediocrity, weakness, and dull-witted unintelligent monkeys who are too scared to really make a difference in the world. Thank you for showing the rest of us who live out here, who are aspiring to make meaningful change in the world, that with enough ambition, strength, and courage, even we can rise through the ranks and do what the rest of the world is afraid to do.

In short, thank you for reminding us that we don't have to be mediocre just because the rest of the world is bland and stupid. It gives us hope that somehow our one strong action is measurable and can amount to something against the thousands of flailing ineptitudes we may face in our struggle to live as real people.

Thank you, Mr. Putin, for showing me that not all is lost.

-Damios

*Ahem* Squee

Let's add some appropriate music here.


English subtitles for the first episode of the Tethe'alla arc of the anime version of Tales of Symphonia is online now (almost in record time.... Usually whenever a new episode of something comes out in Japan, it takes several weeks before it's translated....)
And it has Yggdrasil in it.


Important enough for me to delay the post I was going to write on the Apache killing the two reporters. (Panel taken from Shortpacked)

The portrayal of Yggdrasil in the first arc of the animated version was always one of my major complaints about an otherwise wonderful adaptation; they reduced his part in the first arc from "Epic Fight Scene and Motive Speech" to "Brief, One Second Long Cameo Appearance Just Before the Credits Roll". However, they seem to have decided to just move his initial appearance and the fight back to a later point in time in the series than was done in the original game. And by later, I mean episode 2. He shows up, I get all excited, and.... Wait, why is the credits music starting to play? No! NOOOOOOOO!

Even though his appearance this time was only a bit longer than his cameo appearance in the first arc, I'm still happy to see one of my favorite video game characters animated. I also noticed that they changed his appearance slightly, so he resembles his game appearance a bit more than he did in the first arc. And looks less like Samael would now (I think that Damios, Riunin, and Ian are possibly the only ones who will understand what I mean by that....)

But I'd like to take this moment to nominate Mithos Yggdrasil as second most badass metaphor for the Demiurge (A very rare title, seeing as how qualities of badassness are so rarely associated with the Demiurge).

Yes. Yes. Oh my Gods yes.

http://www.xkcd.com/591/

I use my Hand

Damios has asked me to write a little something for the blog, an essay on the double standard that applies to masturbatory aids, and while I’m honestly honored to be the Extremists’ first guest writer I don’t know if I’m really worthy of the opportunity. Regardless I’ll take it; hopefully the mangled mess of commas and schizophrenic ideas that are sure to follow will at least be amusing for you, the audience.

The question here is why is it overlooked or even expected that a female have a dildo or a vibrator, yet if you were to hear that your bestest buddy Ted possessed a Fleshlight you would mock him mercilessly if not outright disown him? The answer as far as I can tell has a lot to do with another double standard, the one dealing with the number of sexual partners a person has had. If a woman sleeps with say ten guys in a 2 month period then she is clearly a slut, if a man has the same number of partners in say week he’s totally a player. Now why does this happen? Well this is much easier to answer, it’s due to a male’s pride in his sexuality and the fact women generally get to pick when sex happens. You see being a guy has gotten complicated since women have started to move forward in society; there are all these rules that keep us in our place, whereas before when women were just housewives men reigned free, at least in public. A woman has a great amount of control over a man, she has her natural looks, her innate deviousness, and she has the power to file sexual harassment charges whenever she chooses; this gives her a great deal of power, and it lets her choose her partners with much less opposition than a man, in a sense its easier for her. Now if a guy can somehow charm, con, or properly lubricate a moderate number of women to sleep with him the guy is a damn hero, because he fucking worked for that sex.

But back to the point, The Wankening. Women, so far as I know, are less concerned with their image sexually; sure they don’t want to look like a slut, but I rarely see them treating their number as a trophy. Guys on the other hand do, a lot. To guys the Oh Holy Number is a symbol of great pride or great shame, as a group we obsess over at and measure each other’s worth by it, when actually it is of very little importance. Males are very prideful in their sexual experience and that is why when you hear about someone owning a Vaginal Simulator or whatever else you just have to snicker.

When I read Damios’ post last week about digital pirates falling for a scam what stood out to me the most was the fact that an H-game had its release yanked back so it could be made compatible with a RoboticFapper, and the only thing I could think was, “Seriously? Are you too lazy you use your damn hand? Does selecting one of three responses require use of both arms nowadays?” In fact I honestly believe that suggesting that someone use such a device is the reigning insult against males, it’s rarely pulled but when it is I can almost guarantee much stuttering followed by a flying fist. But why is this so insulting, just about everyone who has discovered their genitals has masturbated at one point, and most have continued to masturbate throughout their lives, so why does using some aid matter at all? It doesn’t, and women have realized this, taken advantage of this and it has become a societal norm. Dildos and vibrators have become so commonplace that if you were to accidentally discover one in a female friend’s room you wouldn’t bat an eyelash, yeah you may be a little put off or tease her about it, but you certainly wouldn’t make a big deal of it. So while male possession implies inadequacy in the sexual arena, it only does so because of how our society sees the Mechanized Pleasure Machine.

So in closing, while there is no real reason to fear the Wankertron 9000 (save rare cases of penis severing malfunctions), but still I hope never to come into contact with one. I hope this meets the Extremist’s expectations, but regardless of their responses it’s been fun writing to you folks, and hopefully I’ll get a chance to do so again.

~ Riunin

Ongaku!

You know, between the music and the anime, hairstylists must be seen as Gods in Japan.

Kidding aside, I've been listening to J-Rock for a bit over a year now. In terms of fairly mainstream music its' actually pretty good. Probably because they found a way to take traditional rock'n'roll and make it uniquely their own. Of course, plenty of bands are cash-ins, just like anywhere else, but overall the music is enjoyable and interesting.

Of particular note is the Visual Kei genre, which has held my attention for quite some time. Visual Kei is I guess a subgroup? of J-Rock that deals with visual representation as well as music. In otherwords, the band members doll themselves up in interesting and unique ways. Though I'm a big fan of music coming first and substance over style, I do think that adding a sense of style ontop of good music does make a band more interesting and stand out more. The way I see it, if you focus on literally every aspect of the musical group you've formed, right down to the way you present yourself to the public, then it should reflect in your music. If you're only interested in looking cool and being in a band for the sake of being in a band, that too will reflect in your music. In the end, though, I think I'm a fan of Visual Kei to an extent.

Also worth noting is video-game music composers. Which may seem odd, I realize, but the video game industry in Japan, from what I've been led to believe by blogs such as Kotaku (who I regularly post about), is seen in a different light compared to the west. While Western cultures do have their fair share of talented musical composers (Frank Klepacki being one of my favorites), Japan knows how to take things and make them uniquely their own. Not only do you have classic video game music composers like Nobuo (wrote the famous "One-Winged Angel" of I believe FFVII and the soundtrack for Lord of Vermillion), but characters like Daisuke Ishiwatari (one of my all time favorite composers) or musicians like SSH (Saitama Saisyu Heiki) who take even the most simple of video game tunes like the mario song and turn it into an epic 500 beats-per-second in your face power metal onslaught.

And finally, there's anime music, which does deserve a pretty good mention. I do think in terms of television shows the Japanese have much, much better music than we do. As Omega posted before, the OSTs of some anime series' are even the highlights of a show, usually because the music is more experimental and interested. I myself am a big fan of Yuki Kajiura, who wrote the music for .hack//sign, Pandora Hearts, and plenty of other shows. And many anime have special tracks that are very well known for how brilliant and well done they are. "The Real Folk Blues" comes to mind as one of the best closing theme songs, if not one of the best written musical scores, of all time. The song was written by Yoko Kanno, who did great work in other animes, such as "Ghost In the Shell," "Visions of Escaflowne" (which I hope to see soon), and "Darker Than Black" (one of my all time favorite animes).

So here are just a few of my choice tracks of music brought to you from Japan. Feel free to poke around, the only real strong recommendation I'd give is that if you haven't heard "The Real Folk Blues," you've been missing out.

Visual Kei-

Deluhi: s[k]ape:goat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0n82kzJVb4

Deluhi is your more traditional Visual Kei band.

Matenrou Opera: Eternal Symphony

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIqz5zclvUw

Matenrou Opera happens to be one of my favorite Visual Kei bands. They're pretty heavily influenced by a lot of metal bands.

Malice Mizer: Illuminati

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAFSqBGmllE

WARNING: Not safe for work. If you want the most bizarre experience Japanese music has to offer, this is probably it. Plenty of nudity, very little of it arousing (though your mileage will vary).

Video Game Music-

Daisuke Ishiwatari: So many tracks...

Shout & Burning (classic heavy metal)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EqsVYH-B-E

Holy Orders III (though really, just pick any Holy Orders version and it will be awesome)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Jredj3n7k

Lust SIN (much different song style)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8MJxlfC1k8

SSH: Mario Theme

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xx3mhFPi7o

The guy totally cranks it up to 11.

Nobuo: One-Winged Angel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftoV4CnOIls

Very classic theme, known by those who don't even play Final Fantasy (myself included)

Anime Music-

Yoko Kanno: The Real Folk Blues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4quWmUJYQCU

One of the best written songs I've ever heard

Yoko Kanno: Sesshoku

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTldsgvmUt0

From Darker Than Black, good anime.

Yuki Kajiura: In the Land of Twilight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu8Rrt9bZ-A

From .hack//sign, a very good mystery play.

Yuki Kajiura: Bloody Rabbit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdYkB-DaQ7E

From "Pandora Hearts," previously reviewed by Omega and a bloody good track.

Yuki Kajiura: The Vision of Escaflowne and Dance of Curse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePIUm0iGSTI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1VFqsew26c

Two tracks from the critically-acclaimed and well-liked anime "The Vision of Escaflowne." Very different from her other work.

Yoshihiro: Ophelia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96mlKRgkWJ8

From Ergo Proxy, a show I never quite got to finish. Rather good.