A Rare Opinion

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I very rarely like to make posts about political opinions. As a moderator of an internet forum I’ve generally lost patience with the notion since it seems that most people on the internet can rarely be civil about it. (At least as far as I’ve seen. It’s not intended to be a generalization of the entire internet as I’m sure somewhere out there people are having a civil discussion without resorting to idiocy.) Granted that I don’t have much patience for politics in general these days, but that’s neither here nor there.

Earlier tonight a friend of mine posted something on Facebook that just… boggles my mind. To quote “So the US Supreme Court has ruled that you have the right to protest military funerals. I invite you to start your protest in my front yard, and we can see If your First Amendment right is better than my Second Amendment right.” Allow me to post a flat over-emphasized what.

what

Now before I go on I should state that I don’t disagree with one of the sentiments here; protesting at military funerals. God only knows when that statement was originally drafted so I can probably safely assume (I said probably) that the ruling was made in regards to a certain Baptist organization whom I really don’t have to name. I certainly don’t disagree from distancing them since they’re more about vitriol than anything else. Otherwise I really haven’t heard of others protesting military funerals. In all acknowledged irony beyond previously mentioned organization I respect the rights of people to protest though I think protesting at funerals is in seriously poor choice.

Of course it’s not the first sentence that really bothers me. I realize that I’m probably not saying this right, but isn’t one of the core principles of an American soldier is to help protect the freedoms of the American people? Granted I can understand where a soldier would be coming from in this case, but I just find it funny in this case. Then again it turns into horror upon the clashing of Amendments. I just want to find a nice desk and bash my head upon it several times.

I would hope that no one posting or reposting it means to take that part incredibly seriously, but, my God, the implications. Nothing justifies the shooting of another person just because they have a different opinion than you. I really shouldn’t be, but I’m shocked that somebody actually wrote this and that people are actually spreading it around. I know I’m over-reacting here and that I’m thinking into this way too deeply, but it’s just somewhat disturbing.

Then again when I see wonders like this “ My 2nd amendment right is a lot precise than there first.” I go right back to wanting to bash my head on a desk. The second amendment is the right to bear arms; not shoot them because they’re standing on your lawn protesting. I don’t think even the Castle Doctrine would justify that. Nothing justifies that poor grammar either.

 

A Thousand Whats

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Sometimes I wonder what the hell is going through a screenwriter’s mind when they write comedies. A Thousand Words is proof of that.

Okay, so personally speaking while it doesn’t look overall… terrible; the concept just leaves me almost without words. I mean what kind of asshole curses a man to die by talking just because for some reason his book doesn’t get published. It’s a thing I love about movie trailers, there’s always so much context that gets left out. Sure, we’re supposed to think that Eddie Murphy’s character is a complete asshole because he lies about having a wife in labor just so he can get to the front of the line for coffee. (Granted which is a total dick move, but in the grand scheme of things…?)

Ultimately I’m sure the film will give some sort of inanely contrived reason as to why Eddie is lying about this book deal that will lead to his ultimate doom. Or at least so we’ll briefly think until somehow he is completely redeemed and freed from his curse and lives a happy and fulfilling life no longer a liar. Where’s a bottle of Jager when you need it?

I’ve no doubt that the film is wanting to give us a message, but really I don’t want it. I might give it a rent on DVD, but the trailer already tells me everything I need to know about this movie. The lesson of A Thousand Words is that it’s completely cool to kill someone off because they lied about publishing your book.

Drink.

My Little London Life

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Have I ever said that I love the Professor Layton series? On this blog version? Not until now.

But here I am saying it again for the world to see. I love the Professor Layton series. It’s definitely a quirky title being essentially a story based puzzle game and it quite makes me feel like a mental midget at times due to the mind boggling puzzles (In some small defense the DS’ relative low resolution can work against you in this regard.), but the quality voice acting and cutscenes keep me charmed enough to keep going.

That’s not what I’m here about today. In the latest American release, Professor Layton and the Last Specter, there was a neat little minigame included for free. Any by minigame I mean a touted 100+ hour RPG called Professor Layton’s London Life. The existence of Layton’s London Life has been known since the Japanese release, but more details have been pouring in since the local release (At least details that I can recall seeing.). Unlike our Japanese friends Americans can play London Life from the first time we slide in the card. After spending a little time in Last Specter proper I decided to try this new addition.

Calling it Professor Layton’s London Life is a bit strange. It’s not about Professor Layton. Layton is in it and the game seemingly takes place in the Layton universe, but this is all about your London Life. The first thing you do when firing up the title is that you can make your own little avatar. After making your own character you’re set into the world of Little London. It may not be obvious at first, but after taking on a few “missions” it may slowly dawn on you. This is another version of Animal Crossing. That’s not necessarily an entirely bad thing though.

It’s not entirely a wholesale clone though. Unlike Animal Crossing you have absolutely no debt obligations meaning any “Wealth” (London Life’s form of currency… strangely.) you acquire is yours to spend as you please and Wealth can come easily if you’re a Happy person. Happiness is another stat you can acquire in the game. By completing missions or eating certain foods you can gain more Happiness which in turn can get you more Wealth when you complete missions or jobs. (Even after playing for probably around 2 hours real time I had no trouble getting 12,000 Wealth from a single job.).

With your newfound cash you’re able to get yourself some new clothes, foods or even dress up your apartment. One of the things that I like about London Life is the customization options for your character. Granted that it was there for Animal Crossing as well, but Layton, in my opinion, does it better since you can create a truly unique look for your chracter as opposed to just changing shirts. Of course you may be inclined to disagree when you learn my look of cool involves a straw hat, a blue jacket, a blue scarf and blue jeans, but I like the way I look so screw you, buddy!

Wait, no, come back!

So what’s the entire point of London Life? Just to live a life in Little London. So far admittedly I haven’t unlocked a lot of content. I’m sure there will be a point where I’ve done everything human possibly and finally put it down. Until then it’s a nice little diversion from completing puzzles all the time. While there’s no extras in Mask of Miracle hopefully Level-5 has something planned for the last Layton title because London Life is pretty nice to have.

A Spiraling Descent into Knightness

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Truly it can be said that the best things in life are free. Especially when you don’t have the money for the premium things.

As a gamer I have a relatively expensive habit when you consider I have five gaming platforms to support. (Nintendo DS, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii) Granted that multiplatform games help take some of the bite out of it, but still it’s not easy shilling out sixty bucks a pop.

Recently Steam has become a saving grace for my gaming habit and wallet with its Daily Deals and Specials. But perhaps the game that has got the most mileage in recent times is a little title called Spiral Knights…

I first heard of Spiral Knights way back on the Penny Arcade website. At the time I didn’t think much of it primarily because I was heavily invested in World of Warcraft. Come months later down the road and I’ve been burned out on WoW. While looking at a friend’s Steam profile I noticed that she had been playing Spiral Knights lately. A lot. I mean she had been playing it for an ungodly amount of hours. I had to admit that I was a bit intrigued. Needing something to play I downloaded the game and fired it up; not knowing what exactly to expect.

From my twenty plus hours of gameplay so far I’ve learned that Spiral Knights is deceptively fun. I don’t have to concern myself with fancy stats or perfectly plotting talent points. I can just delve into a dungeon and chop away with my sword and be done with it. It’s a refreshing feeling that I can shut off my brain and go into a simple hack and slash mode.

So in my time in Spiral Knights I’ve fought gremlins, butterflies, sentient tree robots, robotic dog cannon and giant squares of Jell-O and I’ve been doing it all with a smile. Of course I’ve had my friend help power level my gear a bit. The best things in life may be free, but it sure is sweeter when you’re kicking ass doing it.

Take it from the top, boys

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For the longest time I’ve left this front page stagnant with a mere “Coming Soon!” message gracing the few users who have managed to find this humble website. After all this time I’ve decided to make an attempt to put it to far better use.

In the past this site was intended to be a grand stage for my many wonderful projects. To some small degree it is, but that is the future and here we are sitting in the present. And now. And this sentence too. Damn it, present, stop moving so fast.

So what am I going to do with this site for the time being? Well obviously I’m going to try my hand at this blogging business much like everyone else and their brother on the internet. Because my opinion on popular media is as equally valid as everyone else’s, dammit. I won’t promise anything original and it probably won’t be terribly exciting, but you’re welcome to read along with my postings.

- Joe