Moving Blog: New Location is Now Up and Running

As much as it pains me to leave this blog behind, I have decided to relocate my attentions elsewhere. I will be writing for a new blog started by a good friend of mine under the title 'The National Something'. As well as starting my own new blog entitled "Brewed Wisdom", which is now officially up and running. For those of you who have been reading my block since the beginning, you will find a few old favorites reposted for your consideration as well as some new entries that I had neglected to make available until now. Below is the link to both the page that I currently contribute to, as well as my own blog. Feel free to visit both and as always, comment, share and be aware !

http://thenationalsomething.com

http://brewedwisdom.wordpress.com (Brewed Wisdom)

7 Ways Society is Becoming Dumb(er)

Yes you read that correctly, that's fifteen ways that you (society as a whole) are becoming more and more stupid. If you're sitting there scratching your head as to why with all the technology and innovations we have in this world, we are becoming stupider, than you, good sir or madam, are part of the problem. Exit stage right. So without further ado, here is your list you impatient fuck.

1) Our society is in the death grip of Big Corporations: 
               "No way!" say the mindless drones who spit processed meat from their cake holes. Ahh but wait I'm not finished. You see, there was a dream where companies strived to better the lives of their customers and create a product that improved one's livelihood exponentially. This was in an alternate universe where advertising hadn't become so ubiquitous and nauseating to the point where even visiting a website didn't open the floodgates of promotions, pop ups and commercials that invaded your home telling you why you were such a loser for not buying 'x' product. We live in a country where big box marts like Walmart are able to treat their employees like indentured servants and enslave them to a minimum wage job where a single mother of two can't support her family on full time/overtime pay. Yet, this is the same company who tries to pull the wool over the eyes of consumers and convince them that the people who shop at their stores are posh white women who are just 'amazed' at all the deals they were able to get for their families. Sure, Walmart luckily I have a tool called the internet and have seem more than my fair share of bearded women and an assortment creatures found south of Virginia, who are your 'real' consumer base.

2) Our Children are Shitheads who are Useless in the Real World 
              As someone who has both experienced and worked in the wonderfully enlightening world of public education, I think I know a little something about the future generations we are rearing. Not only are they wildly irritating on the whole, but they have the attention span of a crackhead who's looking for his latest fix. They fidget and look for any excuse to whip out their smart phones and electronics the second they think an adult is looking, their lives are dictated by the latest social media drama or fad that has been deemed 'cool' or 'swag' (don't get me started on twerking) and they all seem to dress in a manner that walks the thin line between streetwalker and mentally challenged. Any attempt to drill into their heads that there is an outside world out there beyond the pearly gates that is their high school diploma/GED is quickly disregarded as being 'negative' or 'adult bullshit'. What little work ethic they have is only seen as a means to an end which for many of them is just being able to afford that new miscellaneous product or being viewed as 'popular'.

3) Music has deteriorated to the point of no return 
           I can't tell you how many times I've heard self proclaimed music aficionados proudly announce that rapper 'x' or artist 'y' is "like the best thing ever", and most of these people are under the age of 21. Listen shithead, you will never convince me that rapping about 'popping bottles and bouncing that ass' is a form of art and musical talent that rivals that of geniuses like Mozart and Beethoven. Sitting on your pandora account and partaking in the latest pop culture circle jerk that hails retards like Jay-Z and Katy Perry as the equivalent of the second coming only proves that you've drank the kool aid, asphyxiated it, and proceeded to regurgitate what's left of your taste in music all over the floor.

4) We don't care to learn about other cultures 
           And no scientology and mormonism doesn't count....I'm not sure if it's just us living in a bubble of self righteous shit/religious dogma/social spheres etc. that causes us to be so uneducated about the rest of the world, but boy I can see why the majority of the world thinks we're stupid. The best examples lie in those late night segments where the host asks basic geography or current event questions to a passerby and proceeds to the get the usual nervous laughter combined with a dip shit response like, "three?" to the question, "how many world wars have their been?" American's for the most part, have a world view that can be akin to a fat kid admiring an ant farm or an exhibit at the zoo. They pound on the glass and sayt 'ooo look at that' and then proceed to busy themselves with guzzling the latest morsel of fatty first world treats they pulled out of their pockets. If the phrase, 'the world is your oyster', is meant to be taken literally, than most American's just suck what little greasy nutrients can be gained and toss the rest away.

5) We continue to elect Bigoted Charlatans who Prey on our prejudices 
      I'm talking to you Southern States.....Yes, the civil rights movement came and went with little to no effect other than to throw minorities a bone to chew at for a little bit until corporations could buy up so much space where they would be forced to work as slaves to evil companies who care not for that mother of two mentioned above who is still struggling to pay her mortgage and put food on the table. It's 2014, we have a congress which is deadlocked in it's extreme hatred for a man who has managed to pass a health care act that actually works and provide help to those in this country who so desperately need it. We have politicians whose sole purpose is to veto and block any attempt by the president and house democrats to pass any useful legislation because, "you're a big poopy head who we don't like because you voted for the black guy!" In all honesty, I don't seriously think that the only reason Washington is ineffectual is because they're racist. They're also really stupid.

6) We're a nation of 'Responsible Gun Owners', who occasionally forget that the Glock we're cleaning is loaded. 
       In the light of the recent pow wow that Texas gun owners had at their local chipotle in support of the NRA and the small penis society, I thought it was a good idea to bring this up. Ahh, who am I kidding the number of mass shootings and 'firearm related accidents' this country has, will most likely continue to make this topic relevant til the day I die. We are a country that not only worships the invisible all seeing sky god but also the constitution, but more importantly, the 2nd Amendment. That's right, the part of the constitution that people highlight and bothered to read incessantly, because nothing says 'well organized militia' like having you and your buddies from the group home collect every friggin' assault rifle and shotgun, "just in case King Obama decides to send the government boys after your cotton fields."

7) We let a 3000 year old book that promotes abuse of women and the belief that the earth is the center of the universe. 
        That's right our god is better than yours and he's white! You heard it here first ladies and gentlemen, Jesus Christ (our lord and savior amen) was not only a long haired white guy that occasionally sold tie-dyed shirts down by the beach but he hated gays and wouldn't raise the minimum wage even if that black single mother of two dedicated all of her free time to helping out at her local parish! Because if there something Jesus hates more than people day trading at a house of worship it's poor people trying to get a bite of the same pie us hard working trust fund kids struggled so hard to attain. And don't forget, the earth is flat, the virgin birth really happened, a snake can talk and 'everything happens for a reason'.


There you have it assholes, a top to bottom list of why this country mainly and most of society for that matter, is stupid! If you disagreed with anything I had to say feel free to submit a comment, retweet, share or do whatever it is you losers do when you want your shitty opinion to be heard. Good night and good luck!

        

The '2 Billion Dollar Man' : Donald Sterling profits from Racist Remark

For those of you on the interwebs that have staunchly defended Mr. Donald Sterling since his recorded racist outburst a few weeks ago, it should please you to know that your 'free speech champion' just made 2 billion dollars from the sale of the LA Clippers. Yes, the man who's tirade spawned yet another misguided debate on what the first amendment means and a trillion hours of redundant coverage on cable news networks, has finally gotten just desserts. Not only has he successfully been able to thumb his nose in the face of black people but he gets to do it while riding off into the sunset two-billion dollars fatter. So in case you had any doubt of society's inability to right its wrongs in the twentieth century, look no further than the NBA. Congratulations Mr. Sterling, I hope that money is enough to cushion the blow of your battered civil liberties.

Why 'The Big Bang Theory', is the worst comedy on television.

Oh yes, 'The Big Bang Theory' aka "Primetime's most watched comedy, winner of (insert #) Emmy awards!", or better yet, 'the most overrated piece of network tripe that has managed to spew out from the ass of Chuck Lorre' aka "The man who killed formerly prime times most watched comedy: "Two and a Half Men". Not a lot of positive things can be said about TBBT but if I was pressed to compliment an aspect of the show it would be as follows:

1. Yes, Jim Parsons is a good actor and is seemingly made for the character of Sheldon Cooper, which can either be a pro or a negative depending on how you look at it.

2. Kaley Cuoco is hot.

That's it.

Now for the bad. What I find irritating about the TBBT it's the type of show that you could watch once, get whatever entertainment you're going to get out of it and never watch again, like most of Chuck Lorre programs. It's a program that relies on gimmicks, not good writing, and brings to mind that annoying friend who does the Steve Urkel impression or the Uncle who makes the same tired crack at dinner to get a laugh out of the younger kids. The humor is lazy and uninspired, it perpetuates the growing trend of picking a clique from society, writing stereotypical dialogue and beating it into the ground. "Two and a Half Men" does the same trick BUT was funny because it essentially could be called "The Charlie Sheen Show" and maintain the same comic edge, as the show is more or less a parody of the real Charlie Sheen's playboy lifestyle. TBBT right from the get go seemed to be a limited engagement, a daring attempt from the CBS executives to touch upon an audience that hadn't really been done yet: Nerds, really annoying ones.

I am confident that the conversation when coming up with show was about as inspired as a Seth Rogen comedy, with frat boys sitting around a table drinking and eating cheetos "brainstorming" how to devolve American comedy even more. In fact it probably went a little something like this"

"So let's see, what do we need in order to make an easily accessible comedy about nerds that won't be viewed as a too science oriented or too dorky? I know! Let's think about every nerdy kid in high school who we used to tease and compile them into the most stereotypical caricatures so that the audience can get the jokes without even having to think! We need the straight laced nerd, who the audience can relate to on a very limited scale (Leonard), we should have an ethnic nerd with a funny accent who we can kind of relax with, because foreign people are funny (Raj) oh, and the super creepy nerd who thinks he's a casanova with women (Howard) but let's make have him live with his mother and Jewish, because who likes them anyway right? Hmm and finally we need somebody who we can market to death and use to sell t-shirts/cups/posters/etc. Who could it be? I got it! Let's all brainstorm the worst things we hate about nerds and what we think they're really like without consulting any actual geeks and make like a 'super nerd' with no social skills (Sheldon)....Oh yeah, and a pair of boobs too, we need that because no one is going to tune into these four clowns without some tits to look at. But we can handle that later...who's got the tylenol, boy that was a rough meeting!"

So yeah, that's probably (definitely) how the show was written, and like my 8th grade teacher told me, "the quality of your work is equal to the amount of effort you put in", and it definitely shows. So what is it about these anal retentive individuals that somehow clicks with so many viewers, other than the fact that they're such an easy target for ridicule? Is it the fact that the show is just so passively written that it reeks of sophomoric humor and one liners? Or perhaps the fact that we like to watch people less socially adept than ourselves fail in the most simple social interactions on a weekly basis? The sad truth is probably all of the above. It reminds me of the kid who hikes his pants up to his armpits, throw on a pair of glasses and a goofy lispy voice and make fun of the nerd in the corner. But as we all know, not all nerds are geeks and not all geeks are nerds. The show likes to pretend that the two are indistinguishable , further illustrating their ignorance on the subject matter. If you were to ask Chuck Lorre what the definition of a nerd was he'd probably tell you the following, "A nerd is like, a guy who is obsessed with star wars, star trek and lord of the rings and likes to pretend lightsaber fight with his friends and play Halo til all hours of the night. Oh, and doesn't get any girls, because the only girls that like guys like that are butch and weird...because they're nerds yuk yuk".

Yet despite this obvious affront to the nerd community, which while I am not a part of that group, consider myself somewhat well versed on the most accessible of pop culture science fiction lore and terms without ascribing it to social awkwardness or being a 'dork'. The show at heart is mean spirited as the audience is always at arms length from the characters just due to the fact that they're caricatures, you never really connect with them and even the non nerd characters are stereotypes, so there is nothing for you to relate to, just laugh at, not laugh with. Characters like Penny are very one dimensional, she's the 'pretty, ditzy blonde',  who along with the audience, gets to poke fun at the main characters short comings and social awkwardness. There are no in between or real characters, they're all either nerds or jocks.

It's a shame that TBBT is so well received because it continues the trend of doing a disservice to the comedy genre by dumbing it down to nothing more than high school humor based around lazy writing and uninspired characters which are used as nothing more than to sell t-shirts and posters. It's no wonder why many are turning to BBC for their comedy or abandoning network television all together.

Watch Dogs Gameplay ~ Preview

The last couple of months have left much of the gaming world speculating over the heavily anticipated release of Ubisoft's next open world game, Watch Dogs. Much of the buzz hasn't been positive with many questioning the integrity of the developer's statements earlier this year which proclaimed that the graphics would not be downgraded by any means. However, much of this was scrutinized with footage being leaked that suggested the gameplay had been drastically downgraded from the much talked about E3 2012/2013 footage. Much of the gaming community was set into a frenzy upon this "discovery" prompting many to liken the latest gameplay to that of early PS3 and even Sims-like graphics. It had appeared that the future of Watch Dogs was uncertain and with the developers suffering a huge blow with over a month til launch. 

Flash forward to late April 2014: Ubisoft releases brand new footage that showcases the multiplayer aspects of the game on the PS4. Many over the past few weeks had speculated that only PC gamers would reap the benefits of true 'next-gen' graphics, as latest news had suggested that the graphics would look the best on PC hardware which would be capable of rendering top notch shadowing and Anti-aliasing. However, with the latest footage showcasing graphic quality just slightly below that of the much acclaimed E3 2012 graphics, the gaming community could finally breath easy for the time being. 

There hasn't been much talk about the multiplayer other than a quick gameplay that suggested gamers could enter one another's game sessions seamlessly without any hiccups. How does this work? Well, the head of development has the 411 on everything you need to know so far. In theory, a gamer could enter the session of another in three separate fashions: 

1: Come into another's session surreptitiously disguised as an NPC and 'hack' into the host gamers in-game cellphone to pull what information they can without being detected/killed. The success rate varies on the ability of the hacker to be stealthy and outwit the other player(s) in a deadly cat and mouse chase around the city. Rewards include new ranks, city information, notoriety increase and other benefits which have yet to be fully detailed.

2: A mobile user who has downloaded the Watch Dogs app can enter via their personal smartphone or tablet and take on all the powers of a faceless CTOS operator, controlling the police, traffic lights and the entire city in theory to trap a console player. How successful you are depends on your wits and the speed of how quickly you tap around a map of the city as you send waves or law enforcement agencies after a player.

Note: I wonder how much this method of gameplay will be utilized beyond just a quick dabble to see how it works. 

3: Players can team up in squadrons to steal information from another groups hacker utilizing both driving skills and gunplay to obtain the sought after information. Again the reward(s) vary based on how well you and your teammates work together to kill or incapacitate the other team members and achieve your goal. 

Note: Unfortunately this was the shortest amount of gameplay that was discussed in the video with some gamers, including myself, questioning the driving mechanics and gunplay. 

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen, a quick run down of all the multiplayer has to offer to date. Now for my opinion. While the graphics have me a less weary on buying the game I am still skeptical about the actual gameplay and mechanics. First off I thought the lighting was pretty darn good all things considering, especially since I had seen many videos and testimony that indicated to the contrary. Secondly, I like the idea of other gamers entering your session without you knowing which could prove to be a lot of fun if done correctly, although I can't comment as positively on the silly Taco truck which is about as subtle as a kick in the head (see above video). Lastly, the city looks more alive then some of the gameplay elements of other sandbox games such as GTA V and Saints Row which always bothered me, as driving around with only a handful of pedestrians and cars on the road gets a bit eerie at times. 

Now for the bad. I disliked the way the driving aspect of the game worked, which I imagine you'll be doing a lot of. There didn't seem to be much if any in the way of damage when barreling your vehicle at breakneck speeds down Chicago streets and sidewalks with the front end looking brand new and shiny by the time the chase had ended. The car's also give the impression that driving is almost as smooth as driving a boat or a vehicle in Crazy Taxi which seemed very irritating. I also was a little perturbed by the gunplay which seemed lazy and uninspired at best with lackluster sounds and responsiveness. Hopefully, theses aspects will be ironed out and that the final version will be just as good the early footage promised or close to it. 

In the end I was surprised by the fidelity at which the gameplay looked and while we didn't get to see a whole bunch of the city it's nice to know that there will a lot to explore and figure out for yourself come May. As always please leave all comments or questions that you might have in the section below and feel free to follow me for more relevant and irrelevant news stories! 

World's Apart: Society's Mental Block

'Selfie'. The term has become commonplace among social network aficionados and casual facebookers alike. It is a jargon that has come to represent an entire generation due in part to it's ubiquitous nature. This week the word found it's way into the Oxford Dictionary as the publishers declared it the 'culturally defining word of the year'. While largely looked upon as a throw away pop culture story that typically falls under the radar with most of the 'yahoo' and Huffington post-type articles, it is a story that has more depth and serves to shed light on the inherent flaw of such innovations.

The story is the answer to the often posited question: What have we accomplished technologically to better aid our daily lives and stay more connected as a species? When the smart phone came about in the early 2000’s they were hailed as the dawning of a new age of communication, allowing us a society to close the gap between the disconnected and the connected.  Apple cashed in the biggest on the first of such phones and marketed accordingly with the selling point that their products were essentially the ‘bentley’ of the cell phone universe. With such convenience and new innovations came the rise in social networking domains most famously, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. Phone companies caught on fairly quickly the cash cow that could be created with little more effort than an app that would revolutionize how we stay in contact with loved ones and friends with a tap of a finger. Phones had become the gateway to a world of dreams with limitless possibilities.  Little More than a decade later Apple and Microsoft unveiled their tablet companions which substituted as ‘mini laptops’ and their latest in high tech phones accompanied by HD resolution and larger capacity much to the glee of tech wizards and app lovers alike. 

It is now 2014 and it is almost impossible to find someone who doesn’t own some sort of tablet, smart phone, or high powered computer. We are infinitely connected to one another at a click of a mouse or keypad with the world at our fingertips, whether we like it or not. However, in doing so we have become more aloof and alone, losing what makes us human in the effort to create simplicity. Infinite information is an app away and has dulled our minds into accepting the idea that we need not stretch ourselves further than technology allows. As such society has become stagnate in our ability to form electronic relationships that simulate human connection very well without the physical bond that has driven us for centuries. Today’s youth have never known a world without the internet, cell phones or Facebook and thus have little to no appreciation for imagining the absence of such. What we have created are a generation of socially inept individuals who live vicariously through the inter webs and online personas. Distraction levels are at an all time high with the rate of cell phone related accidents on the road climbing and showing no signs of dipping. Schools are forced to combat such issues with little to no avail requiring one more obstacle (and a large one at that) to be tackled on a case to case basis. And with an economy already in the toilet and a limited employment market awaiting our children on the other side of a 4-year undergraduate degree, we have only crafted our own doom. It is not difficult to imagine a world where physical connections are viewed as an inconvenience entirely with large wall screens providing sustenance for any desired human contact. 

In the end it is up to us as a culture to mediate and curb such behavior in our children and more importantly ourselves. It is often posited whether environment or heredity has a greater effect on our upbringing and I feel it could be said at this juncture that the choice is ours as a species and should be taken more seriously than it presently is. 

Music of the Week.

This above is a piece that I wrote using Garageband. Let me know what you guys think if anyone is interested. Cheers!