Sunday, March 6, 2011
Birthdays
Yeah, don't feel bad if I forget yours. (If I know you. You other people can piss off.) I can't ever remember how old I am unless I take a few seconds to remember my birthday and calculate how old I am from my birth date. Memorize my age? Yeah, I tried that. Unfortunately, while I sleep my subconscious keeps whispering over and over to my slumbering mind "you're 25! You're only 25!" Reality doesn't help much either. You can't be that old, you're still in college and you don't have a job!
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Fox "News"
Fox news is shit because it has never been news. It has always been about slanting "news" to counter the perceived liberal bias in other news sources. Which in turn caused the other news outlets to slant their stories in the other direction even more.
I am neither a liberal or a conservative, Democrat or Republican. I think they are two sides of the same coin. So understand that my bias is that ALL news outlets are shit to varying degrees. We have long since given up on journalistic objectiveness and integrity. Fox news is just the shittiest of the shitpile. King shit of shitty news, if you will. And the Huffington Post is his personal asswiper.
I am neither a liberal or a conservative, Democrat or Republican. I think they are two sides of the same coin. So understand that my bias is that ALL news outlets are shit to varying degrees. We have long since given up on journalistic objectiveness and integrity. Fox news is just the shittiest of the shitpile. King shit of shitty news, if you will. And the Huffington Post is his personal asswiper.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Violence never solves anything
Robert Gibbs, spokesman for the White House, is telling us now on a live feed that violence won't solve this issue in Egypt.
You're are correct, Mr. Gibbs. However, look at history. Violence never solves issues, but sometimes it is the only way to make people take issues seriously. Disagree? If you live in the US, you live in a country that was freed from British rule by violence. President Lincoln forced our country to stay united with violence. The resolution of these issues almost always takes place after violence forces the issues to the forefront of peoples' minds.
Also, when was the last major media blitz about human and civil rights in Egypt? It took this outbreak of violence to bring these issues to the attention of people. (And even now I would bet a majority of people in the world with access to media are still ignorant of the situation.)
I'm not condoning violence, but I can't force my conscience to feel bad that these people are using it. Freedom is important, and sometimes you have to fight for what you believe in.
NOTE: There is quite a difference between this and terrorism. I do not, under any circumstance, think terrorism is a legitimate way to do anything. Violent protests against oppressive governments target those governments in an attempt to force change. Terrorism targets bystanders and civilians in an attempt to scare people, and it has never achieved anything but more violence.
You're are correct, Mr. Gibbs. However, look at history. Violence never solves issues, but sometimes it is the only way to make people take issues seriously. Disagree? If you live in the US, you live in a country that was freed from British rule by violence. President Lincoln forced our country to stay united with violence. The resolution of these issues almost always takes place after violence forces the issues to the forefront of peoples' minds.
Also, when was the last major media blitz about human and civil rights in Egypt? It took this outbreak of violence to bring these issues to the attention of people. (And even now I would bet a majority of people in the world with access to media are still ignorant of the situation.)
I'm not condoning violence, but I can't force my conscience to feel bad that these people are using it. Freedom is important, and sometimes you have to fight for what you believe in.
NOTE: There is quite a difference between this and terrorism. I do not, under any circumstance, think terrorism is a legitimate way to do anything. Violent protests against oppressive governments target those governments in an attempt to force change. Terrorism targets bystanders and civilians in an attempt to scare people, and it has never achieved anything but more violence.
Believing in Violence
A man says to his friend, over drinks one day, “I don’t believe in violence.”
His friend calmly sets down his drink and then punches him in the face. “Do you believe in violence now?” he asks.
“No! What the hell was that?”
His friend punches him again. “Now do you believe in violence?”
“No!” The man protests again. “Why do you keep hitting me?”
His friend punches him in the face one more time. “How about now?”
“No, please stop hitting me!”
The friend shrugs and picks his drink back up. “Well, I’ve showed you it exists three times now. If you still don’t believe, that’s just willful ignorance.”
His friend calmly sets down his drink and then punches him in the face. “Do you believe in violence now?” he asks.
“No! What the hell was that?”
His friend punches him again. “Now do you believe in violence?”
“No!” The man protests again. “Why do you keep hitting me?”
His friend punches him in the face one more time. “How about now?”
“No, please stop hitting me!”
The friend shrugs and picks his drink back up. “Well, I’ve showed you it exists three times now. If you still don’t believe, that’s just willful ignorance.”
The “situation” in Egypt
Seriously folks, wake up. The US government is feeding us BS about being concerned with Egyptian freedom all along, but if it had been, wouldn’t they have withheld aid? Instead we have funneled them money since the late 70s, regardless of the brutality of their police force and their suspension of civil rights. The White House’s talking head is simply trying to spin this to make us out to not be callous.
Suspension of rights due to terrorism? Poor economic conditions? Oh, wait, why would Washington care, we have that here and THEY caused it!
Suspension of rights due to terrorism? Poor economic conditions? Oh, wait, why would Washington care, we have that here and THEY caused it!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
On Mike Portnoy leaving Dream Theater
Listen, I know it sucks. My favorite drummer leaving one of my favorite bands (the others being Iron Maiden and Sonata Arctica) is horrible. But people need to learn to read between the lines a bit to get the real story.
Being mad at Dream Theater - Come on. Portnoy basically asked four other guys to put their careers on hold while he goes out and makes a shitload of money with a band that has a number one album. They did what anyone would do it that position. Sorry, mate, but we need to make money too. Congrats on your new gig, see you later.
Portnoy on being burned out - Bullshit. He's bitching about Dream Theater's schedule, but meanwhile adds on tour after tour in between Dream Theater tours. He wanted Dream Theater to go on hiatus so that he could make money with Avenged Sevenfold, plain and simple. His story on the press release is just that: A story. It's designed to make him appear in a good light.
On Dream Theater not being Dream Theater without him: Bullshit. If Steve Harris left Iron Maiden, that would end Maiden, because Steve writes most of their stuff and has a large hand in even the stuff he doesn't write. Historically, Petrucci has written the lion's share of the lyrics, and the music is usually split evenly among Petrucci, Myung, Portnoy, and the current keyboardist. (Rudess now, but Moore and Sherinian wrote on their albums as well.) And let's face it, there are so many drummers out there who idolized Portnoy and grew up trying to play like him that replacing him won't really affect their sound too much. I can list of dozens of prog-metal bands with amazing drummers that could fill in for Portnoy with no problem.
So, I can see why Portnoy would want to leave/take a break, but I can't sympathize with him one bit. I think Dream Theater did the right thing.
Being mad at Dream Theater - Come on. Portnoy basically asked four other guys to put their careers on hold while he goes out and makes a shitload of money with a band that has a number one album. They did what anyone would do it that position. Sorry, mate, but we need to make money too. Congrats on your new gig, see you later.
Portnoy on being burned out - Bullshit. He's bitching about Dream Theater's schedule, but meanwhile adds on tour after tour in between Dream Theater tours. He wanted Dream Theater to go on hiatus so that he could make money with Avenged Sevenfold, plain and simple. His story on the press release is just that: A story. It's designed to make him appear in a good light.
On Dream Theater not being Dream Theater without him: Bullshit. If Steve Harris left Iron Maiden, that would end Maiden, because Steve writes most of their stuff and has a large hand in even the stuff he doesn't write. Historically, Petrucci has written the lion's share of the lyrics, and the music is usually split evenly among Petrucci, Myung, Portnoy, and the current keyboardist. (Rudess now, but Moore and Sherinian wrote on their albums as well.) And let's face it, there are so many drummers out there who idolized Portnoy and grew up trying to play like him that replacing him won't really affect their sound too much. I can list of dozens of prog-metal bands with amazing drummers that could fill in for Portnoy with no problem.
So, I can see why Portnoy would want to leave/take a break, but I can't sympathize with him one bit. I think Dream Theater did the right thing.
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