A Good Example of Why We Need Healthcare Reform

I recently went to the doctor's to get a routine physical since I'm fairly new to the area and needed to update my medications with a local doctor. The doctor was friendly and requested something from me that no other doctor has ever asked for in the history of my life. A blood screening so he could see where I was medically and how to treat me the best he could. I was shocked and delighted that a doctor was willing to use preemptive care instead of just fixing things as they broke down. He gave me a slip of paper for a local laboratory to get the blood samples and told me to make an appointment once I'd gotten the tests done.

Fast forward to the lab he sent me to. I waited an hour in a cramped, broken down room (I really wonder what the facilities inside looked like) only to be told I owe a large amount of money and could either pay now or contact their billing department. When I asked what this outrageous amount of money was for, they told me they weren't a billing department so they didn't know but gave me a date 2 years ago that this apparent procedure was for. This to me came off as rather fishy. I mean, why was I being forced to pay for a unknown service and on top of that, if these people aren't a billing office why should they refuse care because of a deficit (or take payment for that matter)?

At this point I would like to add that this is not the first time this has happened to me. This is a scam that Healthcare and Medical companies pull all the time. They expect most people will pay for these faulty bills instead of spend hours on the phone trying to see what's up. It makes me sick how much they get away with it. Especially with poor families, people who work multiple jobs, and others who don't have enough time to spend rooting out the problem in the tangled mess healthcare provides. These scams are unregulated and, get this, legal. Yes, it is legal to throw so many loopholes into a system that it's virtual impossible to get out of without hours and hours of work on your part to receive adequate healthcare for a reasonable price (even if you have insurance and pay your bills on time).

As for me, I called up the laboratory billing office only to find out that they never asked for the insurance information for a small routine check up I'd had all those years ago. My doctor told me they had called them up claiming I'd told the laboratory I'd never received such work (I've never even had direct contact with this company) and after an explanation to the doctor that treated me of what the lab company was doing, they stated they'd make sure to give them all proper documentation. Everything should be sorted out but because this company has already feigned ignorance, now I must monitor them to make sure all goes as it's supposed to. It's truly amazing how much hassle it is to receive basic healthcare in this day and age, even with all the medical advances.

The saddest part is that I have an easier time working with my car insurance and cell phone provider than with my healthcare insurance. It's a sad day when it's easier to take care of your phone and car than it is yourself...

Here is another great story about essentially the same thing

Otakon 2009

In my lifetime I have been to many conventions ranging from video games and comic books to horror movie and anime. However, this was my first time at a convention that held more than 5,000 people and it was called Otakon. There were 35,000 people here this year and I was psyched to go see what Otakon could give me that smaller conventions couldn't. This happened to be absolutely nothing. It was the lamest convention I've ever been to.

Gone were the rooms to play video games or watch anime/japanese movies, the vendors that sold wares you could get no where else or at a discounted price, and booths with artists/famous people that meant something to the genre. No, this was just a giant unorganized mess of cosplayers taking pictures of each other.

None of the staff knew what was going on. All panels or activities had to do with cosplaying or J-pop and people spent more time taking pictures of costumes and posing than doing anything interesting. It was absolutely lame and I'm completely baffled by the fact that people pay over $50 for this hodge podge of social interaction. I was thoroughly disgusted with the fact they had nothing to offer a casual anime fan such as myself which would have loved to meet artists and animators as well as sit in on theater style showings of beloved animes past and present. Nope, just panels on cosplay and guess what, more cosplay!

On top of all this everything was so separated and closed by 6pm. So you were stuck in the city of Baltimore, most likely dressed like a heavier, smellier version of a favorite anime character, and nothing to do. I keep having this vision of a mugging involving a guy with a giant foam sword crying on the ground as someone runs away with his fanny pack. Ahhhh, the things I do to amuse myself.

In any case, observing the frenzy of overpriced, riduculous wares and people sitting around doing NOTHING I have decided I will stick with my smaller conventions and in fact, think I will be staying away from anime/anime fans for a while. Their conventions have so far been the most boring (looking back at Setsucon and Katsucon I must admit this) and I feel the whole community has become a mass expression of what happens when people don't get made fun of for doing stupid things...good night and good luck american otakus...no, on second thought, get a life.

Raising baby

In the past two weeks we adopted an adorable little kitten of about 12 weeks old and since then, I haven't had a moments peace at home. I know kittens are no where near as much work as a baby, but all I can think about now that I find this so stressful is whether I will truly enjoy young children. I mean, they take up more time and attention and grow up much slower than your average kitten and I'm already having a hard time with this.

I think the part I've hated most is the cat-sitting I seem to spend most of my days doing. It's exhausting and I feel like I get nothing accomplished. Don't get me wrong, the kitten is a riot to watch, for about 5 minutes, then I'd like to do other stuff like make myself a sandwich, read, play video games, etc. However, this cannot be done since she gets into EVERYTHING. Closet door open? Hm, let me start chewing on this pointy metal hanger. Look, a drinking glass! Let me taste this beverage that is not good for me. Space beneath the couch that is dangerous? Let me hide under there.

She also has this problem with harassing my other older cat. This takes the most time because I have set aside a room for the older cat to go to get away from her. This is the only place the kitten isn't allowed to go and the only place she spends most of her day trying to get into! I can't tell you how much time I've spent sitting at that door trying to do some type of work and catching a kitten that keeps trying to jump by me at the same time! If this is anything like having children I'm totally not for it. No wonder most people I know (not all) that have kids already don't usually think about their decisions before they make them...this totally seems like a bad one.

On a lighter note, perhaps it won't seem so daunting when I'm older, but for now, I'm nowhere near ready to be a parent. This kitten has been a very enlightening experience...

Brutal Legend

Another amazing looking game coming out:



Not quite sure about the whole Jack Black thing. I don't see him as very metal even with Tenacious D on his resume. The only time I've been impressed with him in is Nacho Libre where I genuinely felt he was funny (though I'm sure many people are shaking their heads at that comment). But anyway, if it's by Tim Schafer...I am feeling it will be impressive.

Team Ico never fails to impress me...

I'm even considering buying the overpriced Playstation 3 to enjoy this game.

Pescatarianism: Week 6

So I think this will be my last post about this issue, since it's starting to get stale (to me anyway). I'm still working on the pescatarian diet and to be quite honest. I've even gotten past the craving to chicken, which had gotten really strong for a while. I don't miss cheeseburgers either, which I thought I would, and I actually feel a lot better when I come home from eating fast food (since I don't eat the cheeseburgers). I still can't bring myself to eat veggie burgers since I think they look gross, but I do love smart dogs as I've mentioned before. I've been pretty spot on about eating like this for a month and a half now so I think my stint is going to slowly wind down.

I'm still going to eat more vegetables and less meat product. But I'm not going to rid my diet of meat, but I'm going to keep myself pescatarian conscious as I pick foods. I guess I'll still be an omnivore though I think the term flexitarian is what's used when you eat more vegetables than meat...same thing though. Anyways, I went back up to NYC again and this time I ate alot better than the other time. Either we found better places to eat, or I just wasn't managing my food as well last time because I found all the protein I needed to make me through the week healthy. Perhaps I was just freaking out because I had to look for the options I needed to stick with my diet. This time I just went with the flow and everything went much smoother. I'm not even trying anymore and it seems easier than when I was.

So now I have to think of a new topic to talk about. Perhaps comic books? We'll see.

Pescatarianism: Week 5

So even after all that bitching, I can't bring myself to eat meat. More or less for the reason that I'd feel like I failed. I am no longer pescatarian in the sense that I'm restricting my diet to only fish but I am eating more like it and have only eaten one turkey sandwich since my last post. The rest has been fish, beans, and tofu.

I am feeling much better than last week when I was deathly ill and since that point I have had a distaste for tuna fish sandwiches for no reason at all besides the fact that I ate it during my sickness. So tuna fish and mayonnaise on bread is a no go for me for the time being. I have found solace in the fact that I really like SmartDogs, alot more than I care to admit since I really don't like the idea of fake meat product because if you're going to be meat free you might as well admit it to yourself. They are a little gelatonous when cooked which took a bit of getting used to but they do taste good. Not like hot dogs but good.

My next big hurdle is finding bean recipes. I feel I have been neglecting these flatulance inducing proteins a bit, though they're bound to be healthier than getting tons of unecessary estrogen boosts for soy-made products. Hopefully at least.

Pescatarianism: Week 4

This week began and ended in misery. I was sick, sick, sick! Disgusting. Therefore, I was cranky and tired and all I wanted was chicken. So I ate it and I loved it and I think that being a pescatarian is not for me. I spent alot of time eating faster foods this week since I couldn't prepare anything substantial which left me eating veggie pizza (again) and tuna fish. I have to say that I'm so sick of tuna fish sandwiches I don't think I'll be able to eat it again for a long long time.

Vegetarian foods don't come cheap (as I've stated in my other post) especially if you want it convenient. Now I'm not poor but I am frugal and I find it riduculous that Imitation chicken nuggets cost more than real chicken nuggets. Not to mention they probably have more real food product in them than the imitation ones do (how else do they get them to taste like chicken?). I'm beginning to feel pretentious with all the money I'm wasting.

I also think I'm sick of trying to scavenge for protein. I have to say I think the cold took longer to get through my system because of my diet (this head cold took an entire WEEK). I may be completely ridiculous on this, like other things I say but I'm not sure this is as healthy as I thought. Perhaps if I lived in Japan or another island it would be better for me...but I don't think the U.S. of A. is the best place for healthy dieting...

Pescatarianism: Week 3

First, I'd like to mention I know this weeks picture has nothing to do pescatarianism but when I googled "fish eating" this is one of the first images that popped up and I found it funny.

Okay, now that that has been cleared up let's move on. So week number three has gone on without any botches. I did not eat one single meat other than fish (hooray!). This being said I also did not get the major headaches I'd had the previous week so I'm beginning to believe that to be the case.

The week itself went fine, though I do have to mention we went up to New York City for the weekend and that's where I hit a few snags. It wasn't really the fact that I couldn't find food. Lord knows NYC probably has the most vegetarian options of any other place in the United States. It was the fact that I couldn't find food with protein in it. I ate mostly carbs and fats, plenty of vegetables, but not enough protein. This left me feeling weak and sickly by the time I got home on Sunday (which I then ate a HUGE bean burrito with tons of protein in it...that wasn't such a good idea either).

My biggest motivation for not eating meat as a protein was the awful headaches I had the previous week. If I hadn't had such a problem, I think I would have just eaten the meat and been done with it but instead I gorged on bagel's with cream cheese and vegetable pizza. My stomach felt a little empty sometimes and others it felt like I had a brick that just wouldn't digest. I'm not sure if I'm just a big baby or if this diet change is really affecting me that much. I'm kind of inclined to believe it is, since I've never changed my diet like and at the age of 25, it's taking some time to adjust.

On a brighter note, even with my weekend diet I did feel healthier. Though I slept on an ikea mattress on the floor with throw pillows I slept soundly and did not tire while walking around the big city. This compares to a few months ago while I was there which I was sluggish and exhausted most my time (and I slept on a bed that time too). So this week was a week to notice positive (and negative) health changes.

Pescatarianism: Week 2

So I'm a little late on this post, but I just wanted to let everyone know week number 2 went fairly well. I had two meals that I could not avoid meat. One at a friends barbeque where there was nothing but Hamburgers and hot dogs (not even baked beans this time) and another barbeque where I just couldn't get around it. Both times I had major headaches after the fact (migraines). I'm not sure if it's the weather that gave me the problems (it's been really hot and muggy out) or if it was the actual food but I haven't had headaches at all besides after those two meals.

All in all, the diet is going well. I'm actually dropping a small amount of weight, though my cheese consumption has definitely gone up, which I'm not proud of. I've tried tempeh and I have to say it tastes like rubber erasers (just as it looks). Maybe I don't know how to cook them but I soaked the suckers for two days in garlic before cooking them and they still tasted like shit. I've vowed them off so I'm trying legumes this week instead.

Speaking of legumes and other non-meat proteins. Buying vegetables and beans is just as expensive as buying meat. In fact, it's been more expensive since I started this diet and I fail to see how rich dieters can tell their poor diet counterparts that it's cheaper to eat veggies. It's not. Case closed.

Which brings me to my last point. Since I spent more money on groceries, I've come to appreciate the fact that I have enough money to do so. I'm beginning to feel middle class...and appreciating it. I've never felt so thankful that I can maintain a diet that is on the more expensive side than what is cheapest. So that has been my epiphany this week. Feeling thankful for what I have.

Pescatarianism: Week 1

After a little thought on the subject of health and dieting. I've decided to try being pescatarian for a while (the article from my last post I found while doing research on the healthiest diets for a human). I don't expect to be a fanatic about this nor am I doing this for any reasons other than health. The reason I'm bringing this up is because I want to track how my body takes it. What the pros and cons are of this diet and how my perception of food changes. On a side note, I still eat what I want (I had three pieces of cake the other night so I'm not diet-ing) I'm just adding a restriction on what kind of meats I eat.

So far I've lasted a week on this diet. I did botch up just once on Saturday where we were at a barbeque and the only protein not hot dogs and hamburgers was baked beans...not exactly my favorite and I wasn't going to be a prude and ask for something else. My diet has mainly consisted of nuts, tofu, eggs, and fish for protein but am looking for recipes that incorporate legumes and tempeh as well (though tempeh looks a little too similar to rubber erasers and I'm not sure how much I want to stick it in my mouth). Already I notice that I'm using alot more fresh vegetables in my recipes and cooking alot more creatively. This I have found to be alot of fun and very exciting (don't make fun of me).

As for eating away from the home, so far I've begun to scrutinize dishes more. I'm more conscience of ingredients and especially of vital nutrients (protein and carbs being the two I'm most interested in). I'm careful to make a choice on a well rounded meal with both a protein and vegetables with some type of carbs to help me with energy throughout the day. That and I never realized how many dishes are only meat and carbs...not really anything else. I haven't craved anything I can't eat yet either, which has made this pretty painless. However, I am beginning to find picking out food a little exhausting at times because of the process it takes for me to select it.

The way my body is handling has been positive. I'm not so sluggish in the morning and overeating is much more rare since I don't just shovel what I see into my mouth. Plus, each meal seems to suppress my appetite a little while longer so I don't get as hungry as fast as I used to (this even with the fact that I'm exercising more). I think this is in part with the fact that I'm more conscious of what I'm putting into my body rather than my restriction. I have done alot more research on foods since I decided this diet than I ever have before but it still remains to be seen.

Vegetarian vs Omnivore

For all those vegetarians out there that think meat eaters are dumb and fat please click here. Just so you know you won't inherit the earth from us anytime soon.

The Idle Educator

Recently I was in a meeting that brought up a sore issue of mine and basically rubbed salt in the wound about video games and education. First of all, I'd like to point out that I know less than a handful of educators that actually play video games (out of the vast many I know) which makes this a completely foreign topic to them. This in turn ruffles my feathers when I hear them talking about something they have no clue about in a scholarly method. It's like watching a bunch of older people trying to be hip with the new trendy teenage lingo...awkward and robotic.

This subject has been on the debate block inside my organization (and others previous to this) for a while now and I couldn't quite figure out what really bothered me about the whole subject besides the fact that they're trying to take something I hold dearly and bastardize it into a cardboard cut out of it's former self (if you've ever heard the game ideas educators have...oh boy). However, this recent meeting finally gave me the epiphany that I was looking for, it's not that educators want to use video games, like I had thought. It's the fact that they want a perfect game RIGHT NOW without all the years of hard work the game industry has put into it to make it what it is today OR the research to see what today's big name games offer education.

I'd like to use World of Warcraft (WoW) as the example to press this since this is the most hotly debated game at these meetings. To begin with, WoW was not produced in a night. In fact, it didn't just pop out of Blizzard's creation team's head either. This game is a product of the industries' evolution. If you've ever played the Warcraft games that came before WoW, you'd know that each gets progressively better. You can also see that they've borrowed elements from other MMORPG's such as Ultima, Everquest, and others (each which went through their own evolutionary processes). That being said, WoW took all that had come before it, weeded out the best elements of those games and put them together to make what it is work. This is not something that just materialized, it EVOLVED.

I think Educators fail to realize this. They don't understand that WoW was built with the foundations of past gaming experiences. They think that it's some phenomena that just popped out of the air with no past to collect from. And this leads me to my second pet peeve, the inability to research.

Educators are supposed to be the ones that collect data and interpret it for the public (this is a very loose definition). Yet I find it amazing at the lack of research they do on subjects such as this since they don't see research as relevant. Since it isn't scholarly, they don't need to look at it in a scholarly way. I find this appalling since most instant hits in today's world aren't considered scholarly at all, which squeezes what is considered scholarly into a continually smaller space labeled "boring."

You want a WoW for your class or museum, then why aren't you researching why it's so big? Why aren't you looking at the history of it? Stop looking at this in a one-dimensional way and LEARN about it. Teach Greek mythology by referencing God of War or World War II with Medal of Honor by utilizing what's already out there. Perhaps you need to find ways to incorporate video games into learning instead of trying to force learning into video games?

Move your body

This weekend I spent with some friends enjoying the sites of the city and saying goodbye to one of us moving to a location too far away to casually visit. For this special occasion we went to a Moroccan restaurant with a belly dancer. I absolutely love watching belly dancers but not for the reason you think. Belly dancing is gorgeous just like yoga or swimming in the sense that you're utilizing your body to shape and move the way you want it to through control and practice. It's a celebration of just what our bodies are capable of. It's fascinating what the human body can do when it's trained and the best part is that almost anyone can learn how to do it.

While I was with my friends there were a few comments made about the sexuality of the dance not to mention jealous glances given by woman as they passed. This distracted me for a bit with a few questions. Is the dance really that sensual? Is it the fact that the girl is young and pretty? Is it our western view of the core of the body being a sexual part of a woman?

I'd first like to point out that belly dancing has a lot in common with exercises used for child birth. This being stated, scholars believe that this dance may have stemmed from these exercises making it on a whole a dance for fertility and healthy child birth. It also was a dance women usually only did in the company of other women (men had other men dancing for them) which means it is a dance only made for women. This gives it a very different perspective I think and makes it seem (to me) more like a celebration of the female body than a celebration of the sexuality of the female body.

For those reasons I don't believe it is as much the movements that make it such a very sensual dance but the confidence a belly dancer shows with her body. The dancer at the restaurant was not perfect in the American sense. Her belly had a small pudge to it, her hair a little strainy, and her breasts were most likely an A cup. However, this did not distract her one bit. She was completely confident with her body and she used every part of it to make her movements soft and fluid. I don't mean to say she was ugly, just that she didn't really care what part of her wasn't perfect, just that she could move it. I'm sure it didn't hurt that she was pretty but I think that all in all it was her confidence that made her shine.

I'd lastly like to point out that ballerinas and other forms of dance also have confident woman in them, however, these dances are very rigid and structured unlike the belly dance. I've never seen a ballerina look like this:

But I've seen alot that look like this:Needless to say, I feel belly dancing is much more of a celebration of the female body than ballet ever will be (since ballerinas look more like men). Therefore making it look more sexual and enticing to the viewer for the confident air the performers have about being woman and moving you body in ways only women can.

Black Adder, Black Adder!

All I have to say is, wow...Rowan Atkinson can talk...and he's even wittier/funnier when he does! As most kids growing up in the US of A knew who he was but only as Mr. Bean. Little did I know this man has done some extremely witty things with his words...and he doesn't always look insanely stupid.

My sister was the first one to introduce me to the show Black Adder. I saw two episodes of the second series and was delighted with it. After two years and a bit of convincing for my Sihaya to actually let the DVD come through Netflix (and stop moving it down the list for other movies) we received and watched the first series. Followed by the second. Then the third. We are waiting the arrival of the fourth and last one but have enjoyed the show thoroughly. The seasons are short, the dialogue is quick, and the situations are hilarious. Good clean (or close to clean) fun for all! I highly recommend this series for those young and silly at heart.



P.S. I forgot to mention this guy is in the last two series also:

Breat of Fire IV

Much to the relief of my sihaya (I've been bothering them alot) I've found a new video game to attach myself to. And seeing that I'm playing a game from 9 years ago, this schpeel has already been done and this game has now faded in the minds of everyone who didn't really care about it in the first place. Which is exactly what it was, a forgettable game in a sub-par series.

The problem with the Breath of Fire series was that if you're not a big fan of dragons (which I actually am...to an unhealthy level) there wasn't really much else for you. The first one had the transformation capabilities of Karn (which only gave you three options) and Ryu. The second one had the transformations of the Shamans, Ryu, and the town building aspect. These two didn't do anything amazing for the C-RPG universe and the stories were pretty bland. The only one I felt was somewhat interesting (but the most frustrating of all) was Breath of Fire III. It began to change itself by adding mini-games to the actually plot of the story instead of adding them as side quests. It also added an apprentice/master system, where you could learn new skills from different teachers or you could acquire other skills from enemies. This installment began trying to spice up the genre a bit, I thought. However, it tried a little too hard by adding one too many mini-games that HAD to be completed before moving on to the next part of the game and this in and of itself took all that progress they had made and shat on it. I cannot describe to you the immense amount of rage unleashed when I was forced to walk across a desert by slowly moving forward and trying to figure out how many steps I needed to take to the East before I turned NorthEast. This very scenario caused me to put down the game for over a year (and picking it back up to finish the game also caused great anguish when I realized the ending was not worth all that effort).

Breath of Fire IV is much in this same vein unfortunately. The graphics are better, the storyline has had a very nice overhaul, and the minigames have been much more tolerable (though there are tons more of them). Nevertheless, there's nothing that truly sticks out to me and I've already screamed at the TV roughly around three or four times through 10 hours of gameplay. I think most of this is due to the odd camera angle, which is diagonal based though the controller is not. This makes walking up ladders and into doors extremely trying at times. All in all, this is a great game if you like staring at dragons and just need something to waste time that you're not too committed to (so you can put it down at any moment and never touch it again). For anyone else, just keep it where it was in your mind before I wrote this, in the stuff I forgot category.

I am the who that watches the watchmen

I went to go watch the Watchmen in the theaters this past weekend and I'd just like to make a comment on the movie. It didn't completely enamor me like 300 did (the same guy directed it) and I could definitely see elements from his style but it was surprisingly good.

I didn't expect much from it since Watchmen has a slow paced not very action packed story (that doesn't make it bad by all means, it's perfect the way it is) which usually doesn't transfer well to the big screen but Zack Snyder (the director) did a good job straddling the fence. He definitely kept it faithful enough to the graphic novel that fans could enjoy it but added enough action so that it would still be entertaining, even for those who haven't read it. I do recommend reading the graphic novel before you go see it.

Oh, and don't take the young ones because there is a full sex scene and a lot of Dr. Manhattan's blue penis and Miss Jupiter's boobies...

China v. Japan

So I've been on hiatus due to balancing laziness with studying asian and buddhist art history (I know, they're very VERY similar...in fact, some of you might think it's the same thing). I've especially been trying to get past India/Pakistan beginnings of Buddhist art into later versions of it from China and Japan (Korea hasn't peeked my interest yet even though they are a very key player in the history of Buddhism). Okay, now that I've given a background for my schpeel here it is.

I'm starting to find myself really shocked at how people in American culture praise all things Japanese yet think all things Chinese cheap and unappealing. I know American culture doesn't really help with things like cheap products from Chinese soil or the infamous slop we call Chinese food and all high priced trendy things such as sushi and video games coming from Japan but if you take a closer look at the two you'll notice quite the opposite.

For those of you not familiar with these two Asian superpowers, here's the lowdown. China is the vast empire that spans much of Asia with all those billions of people while Japan is a little fishing island that wasn't suitably populated for a few hundred years after China. Looking at their accomplishments, you'd see that China is the earliest known country to have created bronze and established cities and government centers. Japan is mroe famously known for innovating nintendo. China has given us movies like Hero, Once Upon a Time in China, and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Japan is known for Pokemon. China is known for Bruce Lee. Japan is known for this guy...


Once upon a time in High School, I had a science teacher that absolutely hated the French because he said they stole all their good ideas from other countries (besides prostition all other things we know of as french are from other cultures if you think about it). Japan's the France of Asia. And China would most likely be Italy. You know, the place the reniassance happened in.

So to sum this rant all up, China is cooler than Japan in so many ways. At least China's DONE something besides make anime. I mean, it's pretty sad when the best film director you've had died ten years ago and no one has taken his place. So stop thinking Japan is chic, it should be China you're looking at.

Stop the epidemic! (Why ninjas are not cool)

Okay, I've been having this problem for a while now. And it's finally got to the point where I'm going to talk about it on my blog (get ready). I don't understand this American obsession with ninjas. I especially see it with 'nerd' cultures such as video games, comic books, anime, internet, etc. They use not only this word but the outfits for EVERYTHING and it's not cool anymore. I'm getting sick of things like Dr. Mcninja, Ask a Ninja, Naruto, and screen names like NinjaSquid, girlninja42, etc. Just because you add the word ninja to it does NOT make it cool! NO! Stop right now!

I just can't take it and it has nothing to do with bastardizing culture this time. Ninjas were just mercenaries in Japan so I have nothing against using their name for anything. I mean, mercenaries do anything for a buck right? Why not sell your title?

On another point they don't even look that cool. Samurai's had much more awesome outfits...At least they knew how to use color!

Anyways, I'm absolutely appalled at this overuse of ONE word. This internet thing needs more originality. Originality the word Ninja is slowly consuming with it's overuse!

Black Metal...the comic?

Anyone who has ever listened to (and appreciated) black metal can tell you that it's epic. Epic in a sense of ancient gods, gruesome battles, and intricate pagan rituals. Not all black metal fits in this but for the most part, it comes with the screeching vocals and double-kick drum beats that define it. This comic book was MADE for these fans. Anyone that has not listened to black metal or appreciated the amazing musical talent that makes it up will not really understand this book. However, if you are the type of person that emjoys these melodies of the dark then you will enjoy this book thoroughly.

The plot is about two orphans living in a foster home that find a sword. I won't go any farther than that because it would ruin anything else I say. It starts out kind of blah and childish. I first thought it was going to be more about making fun of kids with different musical styles, but by the 10th or so page it takes a different turn and engulfs you into an epic story.

I don't feel the artwork does the storyline justice since it harkens back to Genndy Tartakovsky's cutesy style (think Dexter's Laboratory). This also turned me off in the beginning since it seems to make the visuals a little less epic (I know, I keep using this word...great that you noticed too) than the reading. Nevertheless, there are a few scenes in the book that are done rather well and the artist has done a great job of telling the story in a dynamic way (you'd be surprised how hard it is to make a graphic novel READ in an epic way).

I highly recommend this book to anyone that even has interest in black metal. It's a great opening chapter to the epic-ness (I used it again) that is this genre and a wonderful way to introduce your local black metal fan to the world of comics.

Bed Time

A continuation to the short story I did a while ago:

The orbital pattern always caused the sun to glare through her window every time she tried to go to sleep. And every time she'd turn, pull the covers farther up her body and fade away. This time was different. Instead of dreaming she was getting a headache from trying to put herself to sleep. No matter what position she tried it wasn't comfortable, and in the end, she sat up and walked out of the bedroom.

The hallways were icy. Even with the carpeting and the imitation wood walls she could feel the cold chill of winter that clung to the steel structures that surrounded her little home. Wrapping herself into her night robe and donning her slippers she curled into her couch and touched the visual controller. Her wall lit up with the news.

"Eck." She touched the controller again and scrolled through the channels. "Nothing, nothing, nothing, boring, no." She finally settled for a classic movie and pulled herself farther into a ball.

The sounds of water flowing woke her from her soft sleep. At first she thought the Plasma was running the sound but opening her eyes revealed an old city street, no running water to be found. She looked around the room before heading down the hallway that led the living room to the bedroom. From there a puddle could be seen leading into the bath that sat in between the two. Running in she could see her waste recycling unit gurgling over with brown rancid liquid. Covering her mouth she desperately scanned the room for something to stop it. Rushing away from the disaster, she grabbed the closest Com and wired into the closest repair service she could find.

Hours later she sat, exhausted on her couch, the awful smell of wastes still in the air. She lifted the memo in her hand and read it one more time:

Wiring faulty and fried circuitry,
Should buy new unit
JBH Associates on Earth recommended.

She sighed and fell to the cushions...that can be taken care of tomorrow.

That Funky Beat

I was invited to a very underground punk rock show this week at a skate park located in a up and coming part of the metro area that I live in. This place was extremely hard to find. You had to walk through a back alley, to a small metal door, ask about the show, then be admitted through a series of walkways before you were in the space. Really underground.

Now I'm not a big fan of punk or skateboarding. Don't get me wrong, they're both very interesting however, I've just never been into it. So here I am, a 20-something year old, all dressed up in my work attire, watching people skate around the walls in this abandon warehouse. It was interesting to say the least, but I had absolutely nothing to do while waiting for the band to go on besides try to keep warm (did I mention there was no heat in February?), watch the skaters, and think. So that's what I did.

What made me different from these people? Obviously we have different musical tastes. Punk is one of the few genres I just have no interest in listening to. Though, for me being a 'business professional' I still listen to black metal, heavy IDM, D'n'B, and other forms of more aggressive music. I then began to wonder what they did for a living. Most of them seemed not to work the good 'ol 9-5 (which I'm so fond of calling it) since they could stay up until 2am on a Wednesday (of which I did not. I left by 8:30 and was home in bed by 10pm). So what do they do? And how would their listening to punk music shape their lives?

Here's the clencher, is there actually certain careers that attract certain genre listeners? For example, many of the people my sihaya works with listen to contemporary adult. People in my office listen to mainly indie/singer-songwriter. Did this help dictate them into these roles in life?

I'm now kind of interested in taking a survey of the types of music different people listen to and the jobs they occupy. I'd love to know if business executives are more prone to listen to Dragonforce, Busta Rhymes, or Bonnie Prince Billy.

Me, myself, and I

I, like most of the young college educated, am a part of facebook. And I've been noticing a popular spam going around called "25 things about me" where one lists 25 things about themselves people might not know. I understand why this is so popular however, I don't really like the reason I've come up with.

I know I shouldn't be one to speak, since I blog about my life experiences. Nevertheless I will defend this blog by saying this is for loved ones far away (that may miss my stupid antics) and for the sole purpose of getting me to continually exercise my writing ability. Plus, I feel that I'm not so much telling you what I'm like as showing my experiences and how I feel about them (aka you won't ever know what I had for dinner).

I think this ruffles my feathers more as an underlying piece of a pet peeve of mine...finding yourself. People waste lifetimes doing this and are usually never happy with anything. To me, these people spend too much time on self-speculation and not enough time on actually doing anything. My experience with people like this is that most don't really have long term goals. Their so set on looking within themselves they don't really look to see what's right in front of their noses. I really believe that trying to find yourself is like trying to locate the piece that makes a computer a computer. There's tons of things that help it run but no one thing makes it what it is. Stop trying to break yourself down into one category and start living your life to find out what pieces make it up.

Going back to the 25 things, this trend is very much like finding yourself. Let's center everything on us. Let's think about ourselves but not really what we can do with ourselves. Why care about writing things like that? You're going to be a completely different person in 7 years anyway. It's a waste of your time you could spend working towards a goal...or maybe writing a blog.

The Dark Crystal

I finally watched The Dark Crystal a few weeks ago and completely forgot to review it on my glorious blog (as if anything of any importance is ever written here). Anyways, as I child I remember this movie being so pretty, the story enchanting but a little bit on the creepy side.

To be perfectly honest, that's exactly what I got out of it this time as well. Of course, there was a lot to laugh about at this age too, like the very hippy/organic overtones, but on a whole it was a great movie.

I'm a very BIG fan of puppets. I find it an amazing talent that is little used now in todays digital age. For this reason I was enthralled with this movie. The puppets so imaginative and well made and just watching them move shows the brilliance behind them. There are very little times you feel the puppeteers are awkward with their monstrosities (though those big crab bug things could have been made a little better).

The story itself was good too. Not too adult or too childish. It's a little new age for me but it was a complex story done right. They added a history to the story which was well done and gave it depth, but they didn't elude to it too much and focused more on the "here and now" so to speak.

All in all, this is a great family movie, one I think made for all ages. It's still one of my top childhood movies even after watching it again as an adult.

College for the already graduated

I've been looking to begin classes again to prepare myself for eventual graduate school and it's really become quite frustrating. It's so hard to find classes to fit my nice 9-5 working schedule which really sucks. I have to say, I'm really losing hope in the United States roster of professors. What happened to the good old days when your professors were also action/adventure archaeologists that go around the saving the world and only hold class once a year?!?

Wait? Indiana Jones wasn't real? Well how was I supposed to know that? I wasn't even born when the first movie came out, I can't judge what professors were like in a time I didn't even exist...all I have to go by is Dr. Jones.

Anyways, this is really tough finding professors who even want to answer your questions let alone actually help you out and give a course after 4pm...woe is me and to my finally cushy 9-5 schedule.

Spirituality in the US

So I've been doing some research on Buddhism specifically the art created for it in China and I must say that the western world sure knows how to skew things. I've had so much trouble weeding out the historical books from the 'spiritualism' writings it's starting to become a hassle to look.

I'm all for people learning about other cultures and following their own path but I find it pretty ridiculous that people need to join the latest fad or bastardize real spiritualism to make something that fits them. Americans are good at that. I'm continual struck by how many people write books on Mandalas or Buddhism and have so much inaccuracies about the terminology, history, etc. Yoga is another one. So many people are so called practitioners yet know nothing of the philosophy or reasons behind it. It's just cool and makes you seem healthy.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for people trying new things but if you're going to become an expert or advance into something besides a beginner...shouldn't you know a little about it first? Otherwise your "liberal" ignorance is no better than your hated "conservative" rivals.

Why people get sick...

Not feeling so hot today...think I may have a small cold. It's funny how this happens. You feel fine, may even eat healthy, but you change one thing in your life for a couple of days (like going to the frozen tundra to party for a weekend) and come back to your nice routine to feel achy and ill. I don't get it and now that I had all that time I could have rested, I'm back at work hoping to make if through the day.

Way back in the day they said there were only 10 or so virus/bacteria...something like that, I'm too lazy to wikipedia it. Did people get less sick back then? There are somewhere in the thousands of bacteria/virus species now. Thanks antibiotics...thanks kids with paranoid parents...thanks nature...now I got to suffer through being sick a whole ton more.

Anyways, I'm just being cranky. I want to go home and play Super Mario 64 ds (also not going to wiki). It's a great game and just like the original Mario 64 except with Yoshi, Luigi (yay!), and Wario (wtf?!?) and no clunky awkward controller to move them around with. Plus I can play it in bed with tea...so nice...

The Savage She-Hulk

I've almost finished the original Savage She-Hulk series and I've got to say, for it being an eighties comic, it still has a very 50's style flair. It's a great laugh but the narrative dialog does get a bit tedious at times. You start to feel dumber because their explaining everything in the panels that you can clearly see happening (I can see She-Hulk picked the guy up...you don't need to tell me that). I'm also having trouble with some of the enemies they've picked her to fight. Her arch-nemesis is a crook named Trask...okay I can handle that...but you're going to have her fight the Man-Elephant and the Grappler in between major storyline arcs...hmmmm.

However, even with all these bad qualities, I do have to give this a very big nod. She-Hulk is not really that gorgeous and is very assertive. Not in a sexual way though, she's more of a complete brute and very much more masculine than many female comic book characters. I can appreciate that since I feel comic books like to categorize women into 2 types: sexy femme fatals and sexy good girls...not much else to them. I enjoy when comics go out of this mold to try something different. Brian K. Vaughn does a lot of this in his work. There are others that do but a majority don't.

To tell you the truth, I've always had a fascination with the She-Hulk. She's taller, stronger, and tougher than most men but that doesn't bother her. She's also highly intelligent and not afraid to speak her mind. She's one of my female heroes along with Chun-Li and Gran'ma Ben (Rose Harvestar) which both are strong, independent women that don't fit with the 2 stereotypes above.

That being said, I'm really enjoying this series and can't wait to delve into the Sensational She-Hulk comics before ultimately finishing with the newer ones that are still in print. What a great female character. Though I do warn you about the quality of this comic, I urge you all to read a comic that deserves more merit than it's given.

Going Green

So I got this interest a few weeks back in the idea of converting my car from gasoline to vegetable oil. Don't laugh. I think it's an awesome idea and fuel would be (get this) FREE! What's not to like about that? Apart from the car smelling like Chinese food or French Fries (which is way better than Gasoline) I can't think of any down sides to it. My sihaya was skeptical and a little surprised since I'm not really the type to be all environmental and what not. I was asked why this change and whether or not I was becoming an environmentalist over this so this got me to thinking...why would I want to do this. Here's a few reasons why I think I find this so appealing starting from the least important to the most important:

5) I hate the smell of gasoline. It makes me nauseous. The smell of chinese food...does not. And it also doesn't slowly kill me (at long as I don't eat it).

4) It's an eco-friendly way to recycle...which makes me look good and feel like I'm doing something for the environment.

3) It's cheaper and I always love a good deal. I'd only have to pay for the parts to install and maintenance, then I won't have to worry about buying gas ever again.

2) I can have a vintage (well, at least older) car and not have to worry about it killing me with maintenance and toxic fumes.

1) I'd be independent from mechanics. I think this is overall the most important reason to do this. You have to build your own engine out of the parts that are given to you. For this reason, you know what's there and what it's function is. I think this is very important since it's so easy to be swindled if you don't. I mean, there are so many ways a mechanic can get one by on you. If you know how to fix your engine, you won't have to have a third party telling you what it needs. You can do it yourself.

So there are my reasons. I think we all should start a revolution and start getting our gas at the restaurant down the street instead of the big oil tycoons in their multi-million dollar homes.

Northlanders: the comic that destroyed something I love

As a nerd with no prejudice, I enjoy comic books along with sci fi and fantasy books, video games, Bruce Campbell, and Vikings. While on the last raid of my local comic book shop, I came across the comic Northlanders written by Brian Wood. I had already read three of the DMZ graphic novels, which was also written by him and was hesitant to pick it up since I didn't like what he had written the first time (I even read three to see if it would change my mind as the story progressed...nope). But since it was about vikings and it had the tag line "Vikings done right" I thought I'd give it a shot.

Alright, where should I begin? It was awful. The entire plot was DMZ placed in viking times, all characters in their same respective roles as the first (for the most part). At first I found it dull and uninteresting just like DMZ had been. The dialogue reminded me of the way douche-bag frat boys talk about their weekends. The characters were so cliche and dry, but it wasn't in a humorous or nostalgic way, it just felt like there was no originality to it. Plus the plot was completely predictable.

After reading it, I decided to do a little research about Brian Wood and his preparation for this comic. To be honest, I've never felt this kind of distaste for a comic book writer as I have for this man. I mean, if Hagar the Horrible does a better job of representing vikings than you do as a serious comic book writer, you've got to work on something. After a small amount of time I found out that he spent months and months RESEARCHING this stuff, with a laundry list of titles he claims he read and an interview where he states he went to Iceland to do more in depth study...

At this point my blood began to boil. This guy spent THAT much time researching this and still got it completely WRONG? What the hell?!? "Vikings done right" my ass! For the amount of research he claims to have done, his work is utter shit. He not only used modern phrases and vocabulary that would not have been used back then (I know the language is different but using the word 'girlfriend' for a mistress is not okay in my book) but his main character had way too much of a modern thought process than any hero I've ever read in Norse literature. The main character not only grew up in Scotland but lived in the Middle East for years before returning. However, he has no sense of religion and hates any part of it...which makes it tough to swallow since he lived in two very religious settings at a very religious time. His thought process for why he feels this way is also something you might hear from a high school student as well. You could not tell at all that he did any sort of research besides using wikipedia for name references.

See, I wouldn't minded if this was more parody of comics like Conan the Barbarian with its zany masculine ways, but it's not. In fact, if you can't take it seriously (which I couldn't) I figured I'd try to look at it as something I'd like for irony purposes. But I couldn't even do that! It had too much seriousness to be ironic but it was too incorrect to be serious! It awkwardly straddles the fence between the two leaving you uncomfortable and no sure whether to laugh or get angry.

Nevertheless, from his livejournal account this Brian Wood guy seems like a decent fellow in person. I think I'm more angry at the fact that gets so much praise for sub-par work. I'm glad people like Brian K. Vaughn and Alan Moore are still ranked above him. Their writing is much more brilliant than I have seen him to be able to accomplish.

A Winter Day

Today I have decided to add a short little fiction created by myself. Feeedback is very much appreciated:

He had been all excited about the weatherman's call for snow. He'd even stayed up late playing through that tough boss on his virtual game with anticipation of a late morning. But as morning came, he continued to wake up through the black morning hours with no reply from his companies message service. As the dawn finally faded the darkness, he could finally see that no snow had fallen. Distraught for his lost hours of leisure time, he finally pulled himself out of bed and into his work uniform.

Outside was miserable. Nothing but ice cold rain and gray heavy skies. He trudged over to his auto, pulled his jacket close to him, opened the door and sighed. "80% chance my ass," he adjusted himself into his seat and turned the machine on, "I'm going to need a lot of caffeine to get myself through this day." He made his way through traffic at a painfully slow rate, grumbling softly at the fear of some drivers under the sound of the latest music from the colonies. The rain had stopped by the time he reached the office parking lot and it left the world in a cold gloom as he entered his office.

He greeted the reception as warmly as he could and received the same reply. This mutual feeling of unhappiness gave him a brighter mood but did nothing to curb his fatigue. "Coffee," he slowly poured the brown liquid into his cup, took a heavy sniff of the aroma and took it back to his desk to engage his machinery. Looking out the window across from his cubicle his mind began to wonder.

How many days of his life were so cold and gloomy? Had there been days like this before the Interstellar Charters? What about the Economic Conflicts? Perhaps someone, hundreds of years before 3010 had been through similar experiences and dealt with the vain promise of a leisure day in the snow. What would it have been like then? That's something you never learned in the history books.

He shrugged off the daydreams and began to concentrate on his work. Waste recycling units weren't going to sell themselves afterall.

Ghost Hunters vs Paranormal State

I'm so psyched to watch Ghost Hunters tonight since I haven't had a chance to watch it in three weeks due to the holidays. It is the only show I force all others to make plans with me around it so I can devote three hours to watching its re-runs, new episodes, and specials. I enjoy the people and fantasize about being part of their ranks of Ghost Hunting companions (though I would never be able to stay up as late as they do...I'm such a baby about my sleep).

Paranormal State I actually have a closer affinity to since I once was a Penn State University Student and I'm closer to the age and demographic of the members. However, I feel that Paranormal state is so childish compared to its peer. I was not the biggest fan of Penn State University and they do remind me of most of the students I didn't really get attached to from there. I also feel that it hearkens back to those awkward teenage years where everything paranormal is believable and there are still monsters living under my bed but that was cool. They believe everything and they're too goth for my tastes.

Ghost Hunters on the other hand has an older membership to their team and they don't believe everything that seems paranormal to BE paranormal. I like how they try to prove it false. Although in recent episodes they seem to be a little more lenient, they do have a criteria for a place to be haunted, unlike Paranormal State where they believe everyone and everything.

A good example is the soft touch by a ghost experience. While doing an investigation of a supposedly 'violent' demon, the Paranormal State crew stay a night to investigate the house. While in the dusty, cobweby basement, one of the members states he was touched on the shoulder. They automatically believe him and state that this is the most haunted of locations in the house. In Ghost Hunters, the members hear a witness explain that women sometime feel their hair lightly touched while in the basement. Upon investigation, they realize this is because of the spiderwebs that softly tug on the long hairs of the women. Problem solved. Evidence found. No evidence however for the lofty crew of sleuths from Paranormal State. The basically decide that since one of their members says its true. Its true.

So this is a small argument (I have tons more) of why Ghost Hunters is so much better than Paranormal State. I would continue my argument with other points but I am more than likely the only person on earth that even gives a damn on this subject so I'll finish here before you all realize how much of my time I waste on these thoughts.

Ugh...

I couldn't think of anything to write about today. Probably because I'm so friggin' tired.

I spent most of last week partying and I don't understand how people can do this for weeks at a time. Maybe I'm just old but staying up excessively late and sleeping in even later makes me feel like crap. I have found a kind of appreciation (very very slight) for frat boys and their sluts in the fact that they do this all the time. Perhaps that's why their grades are stereotypically low and they aren't known for their intelligence...hmmmm...

In any case, I was at Magfest 7 most of this time and I did make some good purchase while in my drunken/tired stupor. I have as of late been collecting video games (specifically playstation) and found Dragon Quest 7 for $20! Other than that I also purchased Final Fantasy Tactics and Breath of Fire IV for another $40. Such sweet deals. I already own BOF I and II which means I have only to by III and my collection will be complete. I realize this is just rambling but I'm not sure what else to write about except the fact that I'm so excited with my video game collection and I got to watch people play the new Street Fighter 4 (which was also thrilling). Okay, I'm going to go sit brainlessly and pray work gets out soon so I can go home and SLEEP.

The massacre of China

So I would like to point out the continent of Asia has been brutally murdered by awful musicians, rich white spiritualists, and others of an ignorant nature. This all stemmed because I was watching the 3rd Mummy movie (something about an Emperor's tomb was the title...I don't really care to look it up) and it absolutely destroyed China with Ninjas (they are Japanese), Yeti that play American Football, and Yaks that look more like big cows than, well, yaks.

I can't believe I sat through this movie! Just the fact that they decided to try and make this historical by adding the Terracotta soldiers as magical beings made me a little angry (more or less because it was added to make it look more legitimate which the movie in its entirety, was not at all). That and the constant crossing of Chinese to English and back again. I'm sorry, but I don't think ancient Chinese sounds exactly like its modern counterpart or that an isolated ancient Chinese woman can speak English perfectly. That and the young female character knows how to speak Yeti-ish (wtf?).

It also takes a well documented historical figure and completely changes who he was. It is true that Qin Shi Huangdi was a brutal ruler but he did unify and create autonomy in the Chinese once warring states. He also built the wall to keep invaders out and again to unify China. This movie makes him seem completely tyrannical with no motive but to have sex with women.

Anyways, it probably happened with the first Mummy movie, but again I don't know anything about Africa so I can't judge. However, after studying a good portion of Indian, Chinese, and Japanese histories I can safely assume that this was awfully mistranslated and massacred the poor culture to death. Thank you summer blockbuster.