A symphony of whispers

Change.
Change.
Muffins.
Change.

The change you may be thinking of, the "change" happening in the streets of Europe, the Middle East, and America, is not change. The mobs that flood the streets are nothing more than animals, and they gave up their right to call themselves men when they went into the streets to loot and pillage from the hard working lives of innocent people. The change that happens in an instant will be turned to dust as soon as the pendulum swings back. True change is whisper, a whisper in the dark that grows into a clamor. True change takes years, and in case you haven't read much history, the changes that are most permanent tend to have one thing in common; the person who held the banner up died fighting for that change. But being a martyr for your cause doesn't ensure it will succeed. If anything, it runs the risk plunging it dangerously close to tearing itself to shreds. To die for your belief is noble, but to live for them is far harder.

I have seen the face of change. In the eyes of those I'm blessed enough to call friends, from everything they say to the very words they breathe, it gives me hope that humanity can save itself. The future rests in the hands of todays children, and I don't mean to sound like all those annoying activists who want those children to follow them, and the sad part is, those children probably will follow them. Why? Because the education system has been flagging. Why is that a problem? The less well educated you are, the easier it is to be oppressed and herded like cattle. There is literally the potential for a new dark age(s), and the sad part is, it has already begun. This is the part where I skirt dangerously close to sounding like a conspiracy theorist, but the socialists/liberals in the world know that the fewer well educated people there are, the easier it is to conquer something from the inside. The next generation always has been, always will be, the most powerful weapon; far more powerful than any weapon humanity could ever conceive of. And it's sitting out in the open, ripe for the taking, and people have been trying to get a hold of it, mixing the offers of a free ride in exchange for allegiance. Why do you think Occupy Wall Street happened? They're disgruntled college students who chose to get majors in art and music, and now that their "skills" can't support them, they want someone else to.

Form your own opinions, make yourself educated, and above all, work hard for what you want.

In a time when the world tells us we are animals, it is even more imperative that we be men.

And on that happy note of this symphony of sadness, I bid you a happy new year.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukah!

Oh, and Happy Hearth's Warming eve!

Anyway, as the year begins to draw to a close, and Christmas is just around the corner, (literally) I want to thank my followers, and the people who've checked out my blog. I especially want to thank the people in Britain and Germany who've looked at my blog.
I also want to give a shout out to my readers in Canada, (I literally know who you two are) and want to thank all my readers for wasting their time on my blog. I won't keep you any longer,!so go drink some eggnog or whatever you so chose to drink. Merry Christmas y'all. And a happy New Year.

My challenge

I challenge each person reading this blog, to, (obviously) a challenge. Now, this challenge is worthy only of those brave enough to undertake it. Not many will. Most will chicken out and run away like scared little girls. It's ok, you can call your skirts kilts.
The challenge: watch these two YouTube videos below. They are the promo episodes for
"My little pony: friendship is magic"

Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZryW1J_wj4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPUQvzibKGA&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Most of you are probably making jokes about my masculinity by this point, but think, who's brave enough to say this on the Internet? Me. Who's making a joke in front of a computer screen? You. Once you've watched the promo episodes, watch one of these good episodes below. (the promo episodes are to familiarize you with the characters) most of you won't watch them though. It's because you're afraid. Pony up and prove you're a man. Watch the ponies.

This challenge applies to girls too.

Watch one of these additional episodes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPOGwdG5fk&feature=youtube_gdata_player


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lRP25kPbcU&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IRq8oDZEDc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHbzvbekOKI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksdRfOsLIpE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0uScv3A0k&feature=youtube_gdata_player


And if you want any fandom, check mylittlebrony.com

Happy advent, and an app review too.

I have decided to start a new feature of my blog; App reviews. I'm talking about Apple company apps that can be downloaded onto their iPod touches and iPads. I will review several apps every 2 weeks or so, 3 at the most. To kick it off, there is an app I have been playing recently, and while it is fun, there are some serious flaws that annoy me to no end.

The App:
Brothers in Arms 2 Free +

Developer: Gameloft

What is it? The premise of the app is you're a soldier in World War 2. The main protagonist is a man named David Wilson, whom you play as in the game, and essentially you play in campaigns covering the Solomon islands, North Africa, Sicily, Eurpean, and South Pacific theaters of WW2. The backbone of the game is a government conspiracy; I don't know how it turns out as I have not finished the game yet.

Pleasantries; the game has an "interesting" plot, game play is fine, it's fun, but can be annoying, and you can chose from some pretty sweet guns.

Annoyances; you have to purchase all your guns, all your amo, and they claim they're better than games that give you an energy level. (that limits how much/long you can play) They're right. If you die in a level, then you have a "Mission Cooldown" that can last anywhere from a minute, to 2 hours. Their advertising is correct, but the gameplay is still limited. There is a way to circumvent the waiting period; you can pay "Medals" to eliminate the cooldown, but the catch is that you either have to buy the medals, or as you rank up, you might get one medal for ranking up. There are also serious holes in how they've programmed the game; most notably, if you attempt to shoot a character who's running up from it's spawn point to attack you, it will not die until it reaches the spot it is supposed to go to in the level. Even if you empty an entire clip into them. Another thing about aiming; if your hiding behind an object like a rock, and you peek around about an inch and you see an enemy, and you attempt to shoot him, he will not die. Peek out about another two inches and if you shoot him then, THEN he will die. I've also play through this app before, reaching roughly the halfway point, and then it deleted all my progress, and I had to delete the app itself because it had become corrupted. I re downloaded it, and have made up all my progress. And as a final note, if you step even an inch outside of the mission parameters, (i.e. going where the game doesn't want you to go) the game will kill you. Oh, and German officers carry Thompson machine guns, 1 of every 4 german soldiers carries a panzerfaust, and Sherman tanks can take 10 panzer rounds with out disintegrating. (for those that don't know, in WW2, Sherman tanks sucked. 1 panzer round could blow a 6 foot hole in a Sherman.) [The only reason we won was that for every Panzer there were 4 Shermans]

Prognosis; Don't waste the space on your iPod or iPad with this app. Its annoying, the game play mechanics are horrid, the plot is centered around a government/military conspiracy of some kind (way to be original). This app is free, and it deserves to stay that way. It's fun, but it's irritating. The only reason I keep playing is so I can beat it. Only reason. If you over look the holes in the game, it's actually quite fun.

The App: 6th Planet

Developer: Monkube

What is it? Something is happening in space. You play as a chimp who lands a small space craft, making it through dozens of levels, interspersed with comic cut scenes. The planet Saturn has transformed into a "Second Earth" of sorts. (i.e. Becoming habitable)

Pleasantries: The game play mechanics are simple and fun; you use two buttons to send your tiny ship right, left, or up. The comic cut scenes are interesting, well written, and keep you wondering.

Annoyances: sadly the comics use themes of environmentalism (that humanity has/will kill(ed) the earth), that soldiers and such are all violent warmongerers, and not the best view on religion.

Prognosis: Excellent app, I highly reccomend this app, the music in it is excellent, the game play is good. Sadly the political elements are irritating, but besides that, I recommend it. The app is free, so go ahead, download it.

There will be more reviews to follow.
Happy beginning of advent.

{Insert witty title pertaining to Thanksgiving}

As Thanksgiving looms ahead, I find myself with 2 things; 1) since I'm on break, too much free time, and 2) ignoring my homework.

I'm also thankful for stuff, but I'm not sure why. Maybe it has something to do with "Thanksgiving" being the name of the holiday. I'm not sure though. But anyway, I'm thankful for a lot of things. From people to experiences, no matter how bad or strenuous they were, in thankful they happened to me. There's deffinately one person I'm thankful I met, and I doubt they'll see this, but that doesnt really matter. What I'm trying to convey is that you should be thankful for the good and the bad. Both of them make you who you are, and you should be thankful that you haven't turned out so bad. Being someone who runs a fairly new blog, I've had under 300 views in the 3 months I've been speaking to the Internet. I find that an accomplishment considering I'm one of thousands who operate a blog, and I would like to thank my followers at this point, and all those who have looked at my blog, who should become followers, for taking the time to read my musings.

Not only am I competing for your attention with other blogs, but I'm also fighting every other website on the internet for your interest, whether it be YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Skype, I'm fighting tooth and nail to keep your soul staring at this screen. And that's what I'm thankful for, is that there are people who pity me enough to bother reading this.
Thanks. Happy Thanksgiving, and happy Black Friday.
[Yay consumerism!]

Go rescue a box of kittens. NOW.

Ah, the day after Halloween. The day of candy hangovers, real hangovers (for older people of course) and cleaning the wrappers out of the nooks and crannies of wherever you consumed 4 lbs. of your candy in under two minutes. You may wonder why we as Americans celebrate this holiday, or why it's celebrated the way it is? I mean really, what kind of fool creates a holiday where you run around in a costume and ask strangers for candy in the dark and cold of the night before the first day of November?

The Celts. Specifically the Irish. Halloween was originally considered to be the only night of the year where evil spirits could prowl about the world. So to protect themselves, the Irish would wear masks. You're probably trying to figure out how stumbling around in the dark asking for camdy fits into hiding from ghosts. Well, it was also a harvest festival of sorts; you would walk around your village and ask each neighbor for a small treat. If they gave you something, that meant they were prepared for the coming winter. If they didn't, that meant they weren't, and if that was the case, food would be given to the person in one of two ways; either children would deposit the food on the house's doorstep, knock on the door and run away. Or the kids would throw it through your window. In any event, the hope was that the neighbor would survive the winter.
Now, the name is an entirely different matter. "All Hallow's Eve" was an English Catholic tradition in which the members of a village would process to the church, stay there the whole night and recite the names of the departed. Hence "Hallow's" (grave) and "Eve" (night) The belief that evil spirits rode about on that night carried over, but not only because the devil wanted to scare people away from the church, cause let's face it. If it's Irish, the English want it.
Now that you know why Halloween is the way that it is, I'm going to tell you 5 things that annoy me that people do on (or near) Halloween.

1. Handing out things other than candy

Ok, it's Halloween, and kids expect candy. I have no idea what you're thinking giving 3-18 year olds who are on suger highs, fruit, popcorn, pencils, and (not kidding) toothbrushes. (Do you want quilted, or non when I come back later?) Save the political statements for your next protest. This is about the kids, not your desire to push your healthy propaganda. The kids aren't gonna eat the apples or use the toothbrushes. If anything, they'll throw them at your house. Hippies.

2. People who go out on "Devil's night"

Ok, so for those of you who don't know, Oct. 30th is called "Devil's night", because this would be the night when bands of kids run around and play pranks on people. Personally, I find this to be one of the most base practices in existence. Tee peeing innocent people's houses is wrong. Setting vacant homes on fire is a felony. At least wait until Halloween to egg the toothbrush house. Then I might not want to hit you with my car to keep you from breeding. Just stay home and cyber bully some random person's blog and compensate for your lack of masculinity that way. Seriously. Prove to me that you're actually worthy of being called a man.

3. Hipsters

No list that's listing things you dislike can be complete without hipsters.

4. People who take half the candy from the "just take one piece" bowls

Ok, this person is being kind enough to offer you candy, even though they're not even home. This person is personally trusting you, someone they'll probably never see, hear, or even know of their existence again. And you break that trust. Plus, you're shortchanging every person after you, they want candy just as much as you do, but they take one piece. Go rescue a box of kittens from a burning building and redeem yourself. Go. Now.

5. Having a dentist appointment the day after Halloween

I don't really care much about this, but this happens to me every single year. I just wait till I get home from the dentist to eat all my candy. (which will be in about an hour I hope)

That completes my list of things I hate about what people to on or near Halloween. This is meant to be funny, and if you're offended,

that's a "you problem".


Thanks for reading, and please leave comments. Happy All Saints day!

Thank you all!

As I sit here doing homework, I wish to thank all those who have followed my blog, I also wish to thank the person in Brazil who viewed my blog, for I can now say I have my first international reader! I am currently having technical difficulties so I will not be able to show you my collection of demotivational posters i had selected, so vote in my new poll instead. Thank you readers, and have a happy Halloween.

Stay close mon ami!

Ah, Halloween, the magical time of year when it's considered culturally acceptable to scare small children. It's also about costumes and candy, but that's to lure the small children in so you can scare them.
Back to the costumes; most kids will dress up as a superhero at one point in their lives, typically Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Ironman, or Wolverine. Even though most of those heroes are pretty cool, they've been overused. So instead, I'm going to create a costume guide for one of my favorite X-Men, Gambit. For me as a little kid, it didn't get more awesome than watching a guy throw exploding playing cards. I mean, just think of how much fun playing poker would be!

Anyway, the costume is easy; get a skintight, shiny black leotard, a trenchcoat, and a staff that retracts. Oh, and be adept at throwing playing cards. Which I will teach you how to do. (see picture at bottom for a visual)

1. Pick up card.
2. Hold card so the longest side is parallel to your arm.
3. Place middle finger under card, in the center.
4. Thumb over where middle finger would be located.
5. Place index finger on farthest corner.
6. Snap your wrist to launch it.

If you find the card thudding into the ground, or going the opposite direction, that means you're using your arm. That's not how to do it.

This will give you accuracy and power, if done correctly. Now to make them explode.
I would say coating the cards you intend to throw in an explosive compound would work, or split a card in two, and put some on the inside and glue it back together; so I recommend using a primary explosive, as this type usually requires impact or friction of some sort to detonate. (i.e. When the card hits the target) I recommend nitroglycerin, as it is legal and commercially available. It is quite dangerous, so if you saw that Zorro two movie like I did, (may your therapy heal you) take what the nitroglycerin did in that, subtract Hollywood, add the real world and you have a pretty powerful explosive.

For more info on nitroglycerin, see the Wikipedia page:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitroglycerin

Nitroglycerin is not the most stable of materials, so you probably shouldn't shuffle the cards you've coated in it all that much, and you should probably not practice throwing the treated cards, stick with the non-treated, as they're less likely to, you know, blow a hole in your wall. Now, Gambit didn't use cards exclusively, as in several instances, he charged locks with kinetic energy, which promptly blew up, once spat a wad of gum that had been charged, he even charged his staff on numerous occasions to send the hapless recipients of the staff through walls. While chewing on Nitroglycerin gum is likely to kill you (as it would blow your head off the second you started chewing) it's not recommended to try making explosive gum. (you could always try the Misson Impossible I gum bomb though) Since the other applications probably won't work, I recommend just using cards, mainly because the only people likely to know that Gambit can do more than make poker games exciting, are people like me who have no life, and because having nitroglycerin gum is unsafe.
I probably have my own Homeland security officer monitoring my blog by now, so if you do try this, you assume all liabilities. Ok Mr. Government agent, I'm telling them not to do this. Just go to sleep, the next post will only be about how to set up your own nuclear reactor, PERFECTLY normal, law abiding citizen activity.
Anyway, happy Halloween readers, stay safe, have fun, and don't forget to follow my blog and leave comments.

Please excuse the lack of italics.

I'm writing this in honor of my favorite movie if all time, The Dark Knight. The top grossing superhero film of the all time, one of the top 10 grossing films of all time, grossing over 1 billion dollars worldwide, was nominated for dozens of awards, set a new standard for superhero movies, and film making in general.
It is also considered the greatest performance of the Late Heath Ledger as The Joker. He perfectly embodied what The Joker is; insane, calculating, unpredictable, the personification of chaos itself. He is the reason children will fear clowns for the next 30 years. I watched the Dark Knight again recently, and I saw the wonderful work of art in a whole new light. I took a film class over the summer, and I haven't seen a movie the same way since, or TV for that matter. The deep complexity of the characters, the subplots, twists, all came alive again for me.
The director of The Dark Knight, (Christopher Nolan) has been working on a new project recently, a sequel to one of his previous movies. The Dark Knight Rises is the sequel to The Dark Knight, and will features Bane (Tom Hardy), Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), and rumors have circulated that the daughter of Ras Al Gul (played by Liam Neeson in Batman Begins), Thalia, may have a part as well, but it has not been stated as to whether she will help or hinder Batman. Based on The Dark Knight's success, The only way The Dark Knight Rises can go is up. Sadly, it is to be the last Batman movie, so it has to be good.

Ponies. Wait, what?! Ponies.

My Little Ponies Friendship is Magic. Manliest title for a show ever. Recently, this has become the new rendition of the "My Little Ponies" franchise, and honestly, it's funny. Not many things can make me truly laugh, and I watched one episode of this show, and it was so subtly funny that I had to watch it again. This show was recommended to me by a friend who said it was hilarious, and to put things in perspective, he's even more cynical, condescending and negative than me. If that show can make him laugh, then it has to be one of the funniest shows of the decade. I was surprised that the show was funny, and also surprised I had anydignity left, but then again, I sold that for two bucks a long time ago. But that's a different story for a different day. I recommend this show to anyone, and it's on a channel called "Hub", and if you have Dish network like me, it's channel 179. Enjoy. Don't forget to comment and leave suggestions for future posts. (May as well hear from the handful of people who actually read what I write.) Oh, and this proves how manly this show is.

What a Jobs.

This past week, Steve Jobs passed away. This news astonished everyone. He was one of the pioneers of the 21st century. He created quality, easy to use computers and later on, revolutionized mp3 players. He created iTunes as a way to increase revenue and bump up the sales of his iPods.
He revolutionized and improved old technologies and industries, made touchscreen and tablet devices popular, and stands as a rolemodel for people all over the globe; his mother became pregnant with him in college, but chose to put him up for adoption instead. He went from an orphan to one of the most influential and powerful people of the past two decades.
Just think what would've happened had his mother not given him up for adoption. As I sit here on my iPod, typing this blogpost in honor of Steve Jobs, I know his legacy wil reach well into the future, that I will be able to tell my grandkids that I lived when Apple was changing history. While everyone is making a tribute to Steve Jobs, thus making it mainstream, (please, don't call me a hipster, because that has become mainstream in and of itself) I am doing this because I use Apple products, and I thank this man for creating them. Enjoy the comic.

Buy this, buy that!

We all see infomercials, commercials, ads, billboards, pop-ups on our computers, no matter where we are, we see something telling us that we need it. Marketing is a complex mix of psychology, politics, current trends, time of year, and the demographic you wish to reach.
Example: when advertising things such as nerf guns, you picture children playing with them, but as of late, that former population of children are now teens, so in all the ads, all the models are teen boys. Its a subtle way to identify with a demographic that's grown up, and it also draws in little kids who see that and think "big kids like that, therefore it must be cool!" But if you want to sell a product similar to nerf guns, you have to use teens who look as though they've really been fighting, thus making it realistic and pulling in the people who want to have that "awesome" feeling of actually fighting.

When selling makeup or other such products (shampoo, deodorant, and other hygiene items) you use an attractive actor, if it's a man, typically tall, well cut, dark haired, and with a brown haired, beautiful woman who is about as tall as his neck. This is a subliminal message to our subconscious that by using this product a beautiful person will find you immediately attractive. With women's products, it's typically a blond woman, and a dark haired man (again), who is taller than the woman, but only up to his chin. He also appears to be utterly transfixed by the woman using the product. Another subliminal message that this product will make you totally individualized and noticeable to other people, thus tricking the people who fall for these marketing gimmicks to buy the product.

Vacations. Who doesn't love them? Don't the ads they show make you just wanna pack up your bags and go?
Good. That means it worked. Vacations are different from makeup. They don't want you to think you're extraordinary for using the product. They want you to think ordinary people go on extraordinay trips, so they use people, who are maybe semi attractive (real people) to say "hey, this can be you!" and coupled with cheap rates, they're right. You go the vacation, and they make more ads.

What they don't tell you, is that the real point of marketing is to tell you you're stupid, and still trick you into buying their product. They do this by advertising something unnecessary that they tell you that you need or you'll be stuck dealing with horribly undesirable bruised banana's (NOOOOOO!)
See the banana case, which you obviously need.

All the time in the world

As I sit here doing homework, my mind drifts to one thing I never forget, the one thing that helps me whenever I feel lost....














Star Trek






Yes, I'm a nerd, but what's the blog called? You should've expected it. Anyway, as much as I love Star Trek, the one thing they never seem to get right is temporal mechanics or how the time stream works. Example: Commander Sisko (Deep Space 9, Past Tense Pt 1) ends up in the past with 2 other crewmembers, while the rest are stranded in the present. While in the past an important historical figure dies, thus changing the future, and the crewmembers in the present are the ones who see the change and are unaffected by it.
Statement: if the figure died in the past, then the future would have already corrected itself, thus insuring that they would never have existed or happened, unless they fixed what had happened. (which is what happens and the present is saved) in other words, if the issue is corrected, then the future is unaffected, but the future is never saved until the Character fixes it, then the future is corrected and everything is ice cream and candy.
This is a recurring theme in dozens of episodes, and while it does make the episode more exciting, it bothers people like me. (and by people, I mean me) If something happens over the course of a year in the past, the future changes instantly. Time literally happens in a second; for example, if I post this, all of you will prolly have chuckled by now and thought, "nerd" but if I don't, you'll never call me a nerd this one time, and your grandchildren won't go to Harvard. What we do affects the future in infinite ways, even not doing anything affects it.

Don't forget to comment if you want to get your grandchildren into Harvard.

My first blog post.

Title says it all. I truly don't know what to say beyond what'll be telling you about on my blog. I'll review movies, literature of any kind, video games, anything I happen to see, and maybe a little philosophy/politics. I'll try to post once a week, and at least 3 times a month. I'll recommend websites, things I find interesting, talk about things I see and do, and post funny pictures. Anyway, welcome to the Nerd Circus, no refunds on tickets, tickets are free, and any therapist bills are your own.