1
General Chat / This is weird, I haven't been here in years...
« on: May 29, 2011, 12:10:46 PM »
I wonder how many people I used to know still post here. Everything's different...
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2
General Chat / The Counter-Mainstream Mainstream
« on: August 26, 2004, 12:42:32 PM »
The Counter-Mainstream Mainstream
I’ve been noticing a startling trend lately, centered mainly on high school kids with tendrils teaching down into the middle school level. I am of course speaking of the counter-mainstream culture. They are becoming just as prevalent as mainstream themselves. These people buy out entire stores like Hot Topic and design their lives so they revolve around this singular notion of not being mainstream. Their entire persona, right down to the music they listen to and the clothes they wear, supposedly reflect this. They feel they are the underground, that they’re rebelling against the established top dogs, so to speak, when what they fail to realize is they’ve gone far beyond carving themselves a mere niche and have fashioned they’re own separate mainstream that parallels the one they claim to hate so much. What they’ve essentially done is created the same effect of the mainstream, that of mindless and blind following, on the opposite side of the spectrum- the mainstream and the counter-mainstream represent the two extremities of the same idea. Counter-mainstream has grown incredibly hypocritical- they claim to hate the mainstream and the factors and conditions that keep it functioning, yet they are replicating these very same factors and conditions with their own movement, but they’re so involved in their cardboard world that they fail to recognize this. These people may tell you they’re not automatons and think for themselves, but a quick glance at their surrounding culture screams just the opposite. Their problem is that they’re not concerned with individualism, they’ve concerned with anti -mainstream. They wear and do things for the sole reason it isn’t mainstream. So many of them have become so caught up in saying they’re unique that they forgot to actually be unique and now simply embody the same ideals as the "enemy".
What truly demonstrates the hypocrisy of this group is the fact that they state they have the freedom and right to act and dress however they want, yet criticize those who choose not to act and dress as they do. In essence, you can do whatever you want just as long as what you want to do is what we want to do and not what they want to do. It’s conformity through guilt more than anything else- they scare you into shaping yourself in their image by convincing you you’re unwittingly shaping yourself in the mainstream image. Why they should care what other people decide to do and how they choose to dress is beyond me. They seem to have missed the idea that it doesn’t matter if someone happens to wear something that’s mainstream, just as long as they’re not wearing it because it’s mainstream. The core of their beliefs has relevance, you could say, in the sense that it’s bred from the desire to make your own decisions based on what you want, not what you’re told to want. However, this core has become so perverted and corrupted that it has taken a life that is the complete polar opposite of its intention. I find wearing something because it’s anti-mainstream is just as bad as wearing something because it is mainstream. Concerning yourself with only an object’s status as “mainstream” or “anti-mainstream” is incredibly shallow, and completely missing the point. You should be concerning yourself with how you like it- it doesn’t matter if it is or isn’t mainstream because the only person you’re out to please is yourself, and if you truly like it then its status in popular culture shouldn’t make a bit of difference.
Following the mainstream or anti-mainstream is really about making decisions for others, modeling yourself in such a way to insure you’ll be accepted by a group of people. Yes, it’s important to make sure you do not find yourself being sucked into the mainstream, but to concern yourself so much with this that you get sucked into the anti-mainstream mainstream is no better, as both end up insulting your free will and ability to make your own decisions by doing all of this for you- they basically give you a design to follow, with severe chastisement guaranteed for disobedience. Similarly, you should not find yourself avoiding at all costs this anti-mainstream mainstream- wearing the same clothes or listening to the same music is not a crime just as long as you truly enjoy them and aren’t indulging in them for the sake of rebellion and “difference”. Rather what needs to be done is to consider only yourself and your thoughts and opinions when making your choices. Don’t let your decisions be swayed by whether or not they conform to the preconceived notions of “mainstream” or “anti-mainstream”. The counter-culture movement seems to have lost sight of this simple yet crucial mantra, and as such it has deformed them into the very people they hate. I’m not sure which I find more pathetic- the complete ignorance of and apathy towards one’s sheep-like following of the mainstream or the staunch denying of one’s patronage of its antecedent despite all signs to the contrary.
I’ve been noticing a startling trend lately, centered mainly on high school kids with tendrils teaching down into the middle school level. I am of course speaking of the counter-mainstream culture. They are becoming just as prevalent as mainstream themselves. These people buy out entire stores like Hot Topic and design their lives so they revolve around this singular notion of not being mainstream. Their entire persona, right down to the music they listen to and the clothes they wear, supposedly reflect this. They feel they are the underground, that they’re rebelling against the established top dogs, so to speak, when what they fail to realize is they’ve gone far beyond carving themselves a mere niche and have fashioned they’re own separate mainstream that parallels the one they claim to hate so much. What they’ve essentially done is created the same effect of the mainstream, that of mindless and blind following, on the opposite side of the spectrum- the mainstream and the counter-mainstream represent the two extremities of the same idea. Counter-mainstream has grown incredibly hypocritical- they claim to hate the mainstream and the factors and conditions that keep it functioning, yet they are replicating these very same factors and conditions with their own movement, but they’re so involved in their cardboard world that they fail to recognize this. These people may tell you they’re not automatons and think for themselves, but a quick glance at their surrounding culture screams just the opposite. Their problem is that they’re not concerned with individualism, they’ve concerned with anti -mainstream. They wear and do things for the sole reason it isn’t mainstream. So many of them have become so caught up in saying they’re unique that they forgot to actually be unique and now simply embody the same ideals as the "enemy".
What truly demonstrates the hypocrisy of this group is the fact that they state they have the freedom and right to act and dress however they want, yet criticize those who choose not to act and dress as they do. In essence, you can do whatever you want just as long as what you want to do is what we want to do and not what they want to do. It’s conformity through guilt more than anything else- they scare you into shaping yourself in their image by convincing you you’re unwittingly shaping yourself in the mainstream image. Why they should care what other people decide to do and how they choose to dress is beyond me. They seem to have missed the idea that it doesn’t matter if someone happens to wear something that’s mainstream, just as long as they’re not wearing it because it’s mainstream. The core of their beliefs has relevance, you could say, in the sense that it’s bred from the desire to make your own decisions based on what you want, not what you’re told to want. However, this core has become so perverted and corrupted that it has taken a life that is the complete polar opposite of its intention. I find wearing something because it’s anti-mainstream is just as bad as wearing something because it is mainstream. Concerning yourself with only an object’s status as “mainstream” or “anti-mainstream” is incredibly shallow, and completely missing the point. You should be concerning yourself with how you like it- it doesn’t matter if it is or isn’t mainstream because the only person you’re out to please is yourself, and if you truly like it then its status in popular culture shouldn’t make a bit of difference.
Following the mainstream or anti-mainstream is really about making decisions for others, modeling yourself in such a way to insure you’ll be accepted by a group of people. Yes, it’s important to make sure you do not find yourself being sucked into the mainstream, but to concern yourself so much with this that you get sucked into the anti-mainstream mainstream is no better, as both end up insulting your free will and ability to make your own decisions by doing all of this for you- they basically give you a design to follow, with severe chastisement guaranteed for disobedience. Similarly, you should not find yourself avoiding at all costs this anti-mainstream mainstream- wearing the same clothes or listening to the same music is not a crime just as long as you truly enjoy them and aren’t indulging in them for the sake of rebellion and “difference”. Rather what needs to be done is to consider only yourself and your thoughts and opinions when making your choices. Don’t let your decisions be swayed by whether or not they conform to the preconceived notions of “mainstream” or “anti-mainstream”. The counter-culture movement seems to have lost sight of this simple yet crucial mantra, and as such it has deformed them into the very people they hate. I’m not sure which I find more pathetic- the complete ignorance of and apathy towards one’s sheep-like following of the mainstream or the staunch denying of one’s patronage of its antecedent despite all signs to the contrary.
3
Nintendo Gaming / DS Redesign
« on: July 27, 2004, 10:12:47 PM »
Nintendo has released images of the newly redesigned DS. Looks quite good, I might say- certainly much sleaker. I like the curve to it.
4
General Chat / SOMETIMES...
« on: July 16, 2004, 02:40:11 PM »
SOMETIMES WHEN I SIT HERE AT MY COMPUTER I DON’T
HAVE ANY CLUE AS TO WHAT TO DO I SPEND MY ENTIRE DAY
IN FRONT OF THIS ILLUMINATED SCREEN FOR PURPOSES
NOT CLEAR EVEN TO MYSELF WHY CANT I GO OUTSIDE OR
TALK TO PEOPLE THIS METALLIC BOX HAS TAKEN HOLD OF
MY LIFE AND I FEAR IT WONT LET GO I CALL IT MY WINDOW TO
THE WORLD BUT I FORGET I HAVE A REAL ONE IN MY ROOM
BUT I CLOSE IT OFF AND SHUN THE OUTSIDE WORLD NOT
LETTING EVEN ITS LIGHT INTO MY HUMBLE ABODE I LIVE AS A
RECLUSE INSIDE THIS PRISON I HAVE CREATED FOR MYSELF
AND IT TERRIFIES ME TO THINK I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO
LEAVE THIS PLACE MY VERY BEING NOW REVOLVES AROUND
THIS DETESTABLE MACHINE WHY AM I SO OBSESSED WHY CANT
I ABANDON IT WHY WONT IT LET ME GO IT HAS ME IN ITS IRON
GRIP AND REFUSES TO RELEASE ME EVEN IF IT DID RELEASE
ME I DONT THINK I COULD GO I DONT THINK I HAVE THE WILL
TO LEAVE THIS PLACE ITS TENDRILS OF DECEIT HAVE WOVEN
THEIR TWISTING PATHS THROUGH MY CONSCIOUSNESS AND
WOULD REMAIN EVEN IF I WERE TO SEVER THEIR
CONNECTIONS I CAN NEVER LEAVE THIS PLACE I CAN NEVER
TRULY BE FREE FROM IT FOR IT WILL ALWAYS CONTROL ME
HAVE ANY CLUE AS TO WHAT TO DO I SPEND MY ENTIRE DAY
IN FRONT OF THIS ILLUMINATED SCREEN FOR PURPOSES
NOT CLEAR EVEN TO MYSELF WHY CANT I GO OUTSIDE OR
TALK TO PEOPLE THIS METALLIC BOX HAS TAKEN HOLD OF
MY LIFE AND I FEAR IT WONT LET GO I CALL IT MY WINDOW TO
THE WORLD BUT I FORGET I HAVE A REAL ONE IN MY ROOM
BUT I CLOSE IT OFF AND SHUN THE OUTSIDE WORLD NOT
LETTING EVEN ITS LIGHT INTO MY HUMBLE ABODE I LIVE AS A
RECLUSE INSIDE THIS PRISON I HAVE CREATED FOR MYSELF
AND IT TERRIFIES ME TO THINK I MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO
LEAVE THIS PLACE MY VERY BEING NOW REVOLVES AROUND
THIS DETESTABLE MACHINE WHY AM I SO OBSESSED WHY CANT
I ABANDON IT WHY WONT IT LET ME GO IT HAS ME IN ITS IRON
GRIP AND REFUSES TO RELEASE ME EVEN IF IT DID RELEASE
ME I DONT THINK I COULD GO I DONT THINK I HAVE THE WILL
TO LEAVE THIS PLACE ITS TENDRILS OF DECEIT HAVE WOVEN
THEIR TWISTING PATHS THROUGH MY CONSCIOUSNESS AND
WOULD REMAIN EVEN IF I WERE TO SEVER THEIR
CONNECTIONS I CAN NEVER LEAVE THIS PLACE I CAN NEVER
TRULY BE FREE FROM IT FOR IT WILL ALWAYS CONTROL ME
5
General Chat / Streetlight Manifesto
« on: July 04, 2004, 11:49:17 PM »
Streetlight manifesto is a hyper ska/punk band formed from several New Jersey ska bands, namely One Cool Guy and Catch 22. Out of the latter comes singer/songwriter/guitarist Tomas Kalnoky. Kalnoky originally formed Catch 22 and wrote their first album, Keasbey Nights (an incredibly good album every ska fan should have), but left afterwards due to friction with the band. To say they've carried on without him would be an overstatement, as when Kalnoky left he took his incredible lyrical and musical writing. He recently formed Streetlight Manifesto, who released their first album, Everything Goes Numb, and it is quite simply the best ska album released since Hello Rockview, and otherwise the best ska album period. Its songs are some of the finest written you will ever find, dealing with social and emotional problems rather than your typical angsty love motif. A Moment of Silence/A Moment of Violence, a two song combo, is probably the best written ska song I've ever heard. Here's To Life shows Kalnoky can write the smartest lyrics since Bad Religion (I still a need a dictionary when I listen to them). The beauty of the album, though, really rests on its incredibly robust horns- most songs' main melodies are carried by the horn section, with the guitars doing little more providing the obligatory ska chord, but they pull it off due in large part to having the most talented horn section outside of the Mad Caddies. The songs are also quite long, most around 5 minutes, rare for a punk band. I think the finest example of all this skill coming together is the third track, Point/Counterpoint, which in my mind has only Nervous in the Alley by Less Than Jake and Little Bitch by The Specials as contention for the title of best ska song ever. If you're fan of ska, if you're a fan of punk, if you're a fan of good music period, please check out Everything Goes Numb. I have yet to meet a single person who doesn't love Streetlight Manifesto, and I severely doubt anyone will be bucking that trend soon.
6
General Chat / Drops of water...
« on: June 20, 2004, 12:05:38 PM »
This is a little something I thought up while taking a shower and wrote shortly thereafter. An interesting bit of social commentary if I do say so myself- makes you think.
When you take a shower do you ever watch the little drops of water stream down the wall, looking at the little paths they take and the other little drops they meet, until they take that dive into the thin layer of water covering the floor because the drain hasn’t sucked it up yet? It’s like a soap opera, wondering what’s going to happen next, whether that drop right there is going to meet its end or is it going to swerve at the last moment. Did it ever occur to you how pertinent that really is? How much it can be applied to us? How closely we’re represented by these seemingly insignificant amorphous blobs of liquid? The shower head shoots water out of the wall, thus signifying the creation of lives and people. As the water hits the wall it forms into a droplet- this is our birth, the droplet ourselves, the wall and the path we take on it our life. Some drops of water race down the wall, trying desperately to be the first to be dashed upon the hard plastic floor below. Others cling to the wall, refusing to let go until they’re forced to. And as we meander our way down the wall, we come upon other drops of water and we combine with them. These other drops are the people we meet in life, and the combination represents the fusing of those two lives- forever you will always be linked. It redefines who you are; no longer are you your own entity, or even wholly your own identity. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like the person, it doesn’t matter if you do like the person, they will always remain a part of you, and you apart of them, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. You are forever altered by the people you meet, be they friends, parents, siblings, anyone. They leave an imprint on you, and regardless of whether or not you desire it, they are now a part of you- you’re a little bit of them, never completely yourself. Our personas are in actuality mere combinations, mixtures if you will, of the people we interact with. When you meet someone new you’re never the person you were before you met them. You incorporate some of them into you, whether you want to or not, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Once a drop of water has combined with another drop of water, they never split, ever. They also pick up speed on their path down the wall, rarely forging new paths, nearly always following the trails of their predecessors- as you know, water always takes the path of least resistance. So as we go through life we generally follow water’s example and take the path of least resistance. We go where we know is safe, where we know we can succeed- the chance of failure is frightening. Seldom is it that we choose to go our own way, make our own decisions. We’re given the illusion of free will in life, but in reality we’re being herded into simply navigating the beaten path. We think we’re choosing the course to our own life, but we’re just playing a big game of follow the leader. As a drop of water combines and recombines with other drops, it becomes bigger and bigger. As it becomes bigger it’s more likely to follow the watery streams of its ancestors, but it is also more likely to succeed should it attempt to break off into the unknown. Its sheer weight and mass give it the ability to create its own stream, but most often it chooses not to and follows the predestined course. As more and more people are added to your life it becomes easier to slip into the role of a sheep and to never do the leading yourself. It becomes easier to lose track of yourself, indeed, to lose your identity altogether. Despite the fact that your persona and your identity are redefined every time you meet someone, that doesn’t change that fact that it’s still who you are. You’ll always be yourself, even if your self is made up of bits and pieces of other selves. Only when you realize that, only when the large drop of water learns of its size, can you truly be your be your own person, truly make your own decisions, and truly trod untrodden ground. And inevitably we will all make that leap into the pool of water at the bottom, only to be sucked into the drain, filtered, and shot back out of the wall as someone else. Such is the endless course of life.
When you take a shower do you ever watch the little drops of water stream down the wall, looking at the little paths they take and the other little drops they meet, until they take that dive into the thin layer of water covering the floor because the drain hasn’t sucked it up yet? It’s like a soap opera, wondering what’s going to happen next, whether that drop right there is going to meet its end or is it going to swerve at the last moment. Did it ever occur to you how pertinent that really is? How much it can be applied to us? How closely we’re represented by these seemingly insignificant amorphous blobs of liquid? The shower head shoots water out of the wall, thus signifying the creation of lives and people. As the water hits the wall it forms into a droplet- this is our birth, the droplet ourselves, the wall and the path we take on it our life. Some drops of water race down the wall, trying desperately to be the first to be dashed upon the hard plastic floor below. Others cling to the wall, refusing to let go until they’re forced to. And as we meander our way down the wall, we come upon other drops of water and we combine with them. These other drops are the people we meet in life, and the combination represents the fusing of those two lives- forever you will always be linked. It redefines who you are; no longer are you your own entity, or even wholly your own identity. It doesn’t matter if you don’t like the person, it doesn’t matter if you do like the person, they will always remain a part of you, and you apart of them, and there’s nothing you can do to change that. You are forever altered by the people you meet, be they friends, parents, siblings, anyone. They leave an imprint on you, and regardless of whether or not you desire it, they are now a part of you- you’re a little bit of them, never completely yourself. Our personas are in actuality mere combinations, mixtures if you will, of the people we interact with. When you meet someone new you’re never the person you were before you met them. You incorporate some of them into you, whether you want to or not, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Once a drop of water has combined with another drop of water, they never split, ever. They also pick up speed on their path down the wall, rarely forging new paths, nearly always following the trails of their predecessors- as you know, water always takes the path of least resistance. So as we go through life we generally follow water’s example and take the path of least resistance. We go where we know is safe, where we know we can succeed- the chance of failure is frightening. Seldom is it that we choose to go our own way, make our own decisions. We’re given the illusion of free will in life, but in reality we’re being herded into simply navigating the beaten path. We think we’re choosing the course to our own life, but we’re just playing a big game of follow the leader. As a drop of water combines and recombines with other drops, it becomes bigger and bigger. As it becomes bigger it’s more likely to follow the watery streams of its ancestors, but it is also more likely to succeed should it attempt to break off into the unknown. Its sheer weight and mass give it the ability to create its own stream, but most often it chooses not to and follows the predestined course. As more and more people are added to your life it becomes easier to slip into the role of a sheep and to never do the leading yourself. It becomes easier to lose track of yourself, indeed, to lose your identity altogether. Despite the fact that your persona and your identity are redefined every time you meet someone, that doesn’t change that fact that it’s still who you are. You’ll always be yourself, even if your self is made up of bits and pieces of other selves. Only when you realize that, only when the large drop of water learns of its size, can you truly be your be your own person, truly make your own decisions, and truly trod untrodden ground. And inevitably we will all make that leap into the pool of water at the bottom, only to be sucked into the drain, filtered, and shot back out of the wall as someone else. Such is the endless course of life.
7
General Chat / Need Help With Winamp
« on: June 13, 2004, 04:28:45 PM »
I have Winamp 5.03 Pro and an extensive media library. I have over 100 albums on my computer and each one has its own playlist in Winamp. Having so many, though, makes it a pain to scroll through them all to find the one I want. Is there any way I can create a folder for my playlists in the media library to better organize them? Ideally I'd like a folder for each band and have it contain each album by that artist I have. I've looked on the official Winamp website for plugins- it was a very unpleasant experience I would not like to repeat. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 
8
General Chat / Blender's 50 Worst Songs Of All Time (not pretty)
« on: June 03, 2004, 11:46:45 AM »
I was curious, so I checked out Bender's 50 Worst Songs of All Time article- what I saw was more horrible than anything you could possibly imagine. While I do agree with many of their choices, the rest only go to show how much the music industry has declined, so much so that it's at the point where it doesn't even know what good music is anymore.
#41 is We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel
#26 is The End by The Doors
#1 is We Built This City by Starship
#12 is Kokomo by The Beach Boys
Those 4 pissed me off enough, but these two made me feel like I had just been mugged and left beaten in a dark alley:
#48 is Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da by The Beatles (as if I really need to say that)
#42 is The Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel
We'll just ignore Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da for now, since any Beatles song being on a list of the worst songs ever is nothing less than blasphemy. But The Sounds of Silence is one of the most beautiful and thoughtful songs ever written, rivaled, on the whole, only by Simon and Garfunkel's other work. How could it possibly be one of the worst songs ever? Go to the link if you want to read their pretentious and hypocritical explanations, but I'd warn against it.
How can Blender think they can claim they're the "Ultime Music Magazine" while at the same even suggesting a Beatles song is bad? It just doesn't make sense.
#41 is We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel
#26 is The End by The Doors
#1 is We Built This City by Starship
#12 is Kokomo by The Beach Boys
Those 4 pissed me off enough, but these two made me feel like I had just been mugged and left beaten in a dark alley:
#48 is Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da by The Beatles (as if I really need to say that)
#42 is The Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel
We'll just ignore Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da for now, since any Beatles song being on a list of the worst songs ever is nothing less than blasphemy. But The Sounds of Silence is one of the most beautiful and thoughtful songs ever written, rivaled, on the whole, only by Simon and Garfunkel's other work. How could it possibly be one of the worst songs ever? Go to the link if you want to read their pretentious and hypocritical explanations, but I'd warn against it.
How can Blender think they can claim they're the "Ultime Music Magazine" while at the same even suggesting a Beatles song is bad? It just doesn't make sense.
9
General Chat / My latest MSPaint creation
« on: May 30, 2004, 06:04:45 PM »
Wiz. There are some compression artifacts from when I converted it from a bitmap to a GIF but I think they make it look better. Tell me what you think. 
10
General Chat / The best thing happened today...
« on: May 25, 2004, 03:41:41 PM »
My friend Shawn laughed so hard today that he puked in the dog's food bowl, and the dog licked up the part that hit the floor. It was hilarious.
::EDIT::
A reenactment (it's very faithful).
::EDIT::
A reenactment (it's very faithful).
12
General Chat / Mouse wheel problem
« on: May 15, 2004, 10:42:28 AM »
Today Windows out of the blue decided that the new function for my mouse wheel would be to move Forward and Backward through pages on my browsers, and it's getting really annoying. Since I didn't make the change myself, I have no clue how to get it to stop. I've looked through every option for my browsers and my mouse, and have restarted my computer, but nothing is working. I a few other people who have had this problem but they don't remember how they fixed it. Can anyone help?
13
General Gaming / 3D Chrono Trigger project
« on: May 09, 2004, 09:34:32 AM »
Grey Ninja has shown me something that is at least as cool as the 2D Ocarina of Time project- a 3D Chrono Trigger project. I was a bit worried the artistic style of the original would be lost in the translation to 3D, but I have to say, they've done an excellent job preserving it. They have a handful of screenshots and MP3's which will blow you away. I heavily suggest everyone check this out.
14
General Chat / Overpopulation and the Unemployed
« on: March 22, 2004, 05:02:44 PM »
I think the ideal way to give more Americans jobs is for vastly overpopulated countries like India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, to employ strict population controls similar to what China is using. Think about how many times you've seen labels on products that say "Made in China" or "Made in India" and then think about why- the reason, obviously, is because labor is much cheaper in these countries which makes the products produced there MUCH cheaper to make, greatly increasing the profit a company can make. Labor is so much less expensive in these countries because of their vast overpopulation. There are more people than jobs in these countries, which leaves a huge portion of them unemployed. They work for so little because it's really the only job they can get- they're desperate. Because of such cheaper labor, as we all know, companies are flocking places like India, China, and Indonesia to manufacture their products, which in turns takes away jobs from Americans since the product would have otherwise been manufactured here. One solution to this problem is for these overpopulated countries to employ population controls, which will, over time, greatly reduce the amount of people living there. This will greatly reduce the amount of unemployed people, making it less practical to manufacture items in foreign countries given that labor isn't nearly as cheap as before since the unemployed aren't nearly as desperate. Products will again be manufactured in America, giving jobs back to Americans. Obviously this solution in of itself isn't very practical, but in theory it could really help the economy of many countries.
15
General Chat / Furbies scare the crap out of me
« on: March 12, 2004, 04:53:34 PM »
The weirdest thing just happened to me. I was reading through the civilization histories on The Conquerors (I'm a nerd, I know) when for no apparent reason, one of the Furbies in my closet wakes up and starts talking. This thing hasn't been on for at least 3 years, and I could have sworn the batteries were dead, considering I have quite literally thrown it across my room without it coming to life. Then out of nowhere it wakes up! I am thoroughly creeped out right now- I'm afraid if I go in my closest it'll stab me or something. o_O
16
General Chat / Emergence of Social Classes
« on: February 21, 2004, 08:45:02 AM »
Yesterday I went to the mall to play some DDR (ended up playing more Para Para Paradise- very strange, but very fun). My group of friends and I took a break to go the food court and get something to eat. While I was eating I saw a girl that looked about 12 years old (and was really cute, but I can say that because I'm 15 
). What was really odd, though, was that she was wearing a shirt that said "I 
Nerds". That posed an interesting question that led my friends and me into a very in-depth debate- just how early are social classes emerging nowadays? I'm only a few years older than this nerd girl (as we have come to call her) and I distinctly remember that when I was her age, about 6th grade, school was filled almost entirely with sheep that followed the leader of the week- there were no "real" class distinctions beyond perhaps the preppy kids and everyone else. 7th grade was much the same way, as was most of 8th grade (which is probably why I hated middle school so much, because everybody was trying to find out where they fit in). It wasn't until about 9th grade when social classes really started to emerge and began clicking together. And something that makes this whole ordeal even more puzzling is that such a shirt as nerd girl was wearing implies a subclass, that of the nerd lovers, which most definitely did not appear until much later than 6th grade. I've debated this with many people, with their ages ranging from 16 to 21, and they all seem to have had the same experience as I did, in different times at different schools, with classes not really emerging until 9th grade- how is it that social classes between my generation and that of 6 years' my elder would change very little, but in a period of roughly half that time such a radical change would come about? Any thoughts on the subject would be welcomed.
). What was really odd, though, was that she was wearing a shirt that said "I Nerds". That posed an interesting question that led my friends and me into a very in-depth debate- just how early are social classes emerging nowadays? I'm only a few years older than this nerd girl (as we have come to call her) and I distinctly remember that when I was her age, about 6th grade, school was filled almost entirely with sheep that followed the leader of the week- there were no "real" class distinctions beyond perhaps the preppy kids and everyone else. 7th grade was much the same way, as was most of 8th grade (which is probably why I hated middle school so much, because everybody was trying to find out where they fit in). It wasn't until about 9th grade when social classes really started to emerge and began clicking together. And something that makes this whole ordeal even more puzzling is that such a shirt as nerd girl was wearing implies a subclass, that of the nerd lovers, which most definitely did not appear until much later than 6th grade. I've debated this with many people, with their ages ranging from 16 to 21, and they all seem to have had the same experience as I did, in different times at different schools, with classes not really emerging until 9th grade- how is it that social classes between my generation and that of 6 years' my elder would change very little, but in a period of roughly half that time such a radical change would come about? Any thoughts on the subject would be welcomed.
17
General Chat / I....hate.....Fox....so....much
« on: February 02, 2004, 07:28:15 AM »
It appears that Fox is making a new movie, to be directed by Mike Judge (of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill fame), entitled 3001. The basic plot for 3001 is an average American is chosen by the Pentagon to test out an experimental hibernation program. He wakes up 1,000 years later in a dumbed down society. Ringing any bells? Anyone who has even heard of Futurama could tell you this is a blatant rip off, even going so far as to imitate one episode in particular, The Day the Earth Stood Stupid. I've seriously had about as much as I can take from Fox! First they screw over Futurama when it was still airing by constantly shifting its timeslot and preempting it with football, then they mercilessly cancelled it for no apparent reason, and now, apparently to add insult to injury, they rip off the show's premise for a new live action movie! Directed by Mike Judge, no less (why King of the Hill is still being shown is beyond me)! It's as if Fox has absolutely no respect for what Matt Groening has done for them! I guess I can't say it's surprising, though- Fox appears to be run by the most incompetent humans ever to grace this planet. I....hate.....Fox....so....much. 
18
General Chat / Problem accessing websites
« on: January 17, 2004, 04:41:22 PM »
For some reason or another, I can't go to some websites. I've tried going to them on Opera, Firebird, and IE, I've tried dropping my security levels as low as possible, I even tried disabling my antivirus program, on the off chance it was causing some sort of problem. Nothing has worked so far. It's not just my computer, either- I can't access the websites on my parents' computer either. It's possible my ISP has blocked the sites, but they've never done anything like that before, so I really doubt that's why I can't get to them. Can anyone help?
19
General Chat / SERIOUS TV Problem
« on: January 16, 2004, 07:39:43 PM »
My TV, plain and simple, won't display any picture. It has no problem with sound, but it will not display any video whatsoever. I have my satellite reciever and all of my consoles hooked up to my TV through an A/V switchbox using S-video cables, although that shouldn't matter because I have the same problem when things are directly hooked up to my TV. Neither the S-video cable nor the RCA video cable work, although for some reason when I disconnect an S-video cable, everything goes out, including the sound. Does ANYONE have any idea as to what my problem is? I really don't want to have to buy a new TV- it's a 20" flatscreen. 
::EDIT::
Well, don't ask me how, but I fixed it. All I really did was take my TV off its stand and put it on my bed some 3 feet away, then moved it back and amazingly it started working again!
::EDIT::
Well, don't ask me how, but I fixed it. All I really did was take my TV off its stand and put it on my bed some 3 feet away, then moved it back and amazingly it started working again!
20
Nintendo Gaming / "The Trouble With Nintendo"
« on: December 18, 2003, 06:32:57 PM »
Game-Revolution, by far my favorite videogame review website, has recently posted an editorial detailing Nintendo's problems and shortcomings in an editorial entitled The Trouble With Nintendo. I wrote a counter editorial largely based on my post in the Time Magazine thread, which I will send to them, but my email account is currently down. So while I'm waiting for it to get back up, I've decided to post it here for your critique. All comments are welcome, both positive and negative, as long as they are relevant.
EDIT: Eric Josue of Otaku Ezine has posted this editorial on his website, which you can find here.
Dear Game-Revolution and Kaanchy,
I’ve been a faithful reader of Game-Revolution for 7 years now, and I regard you as the best videogame review website on the internet- you’re unbiased, you’re fair, you’re intelligent, and you know what’s relevant to real gamers. And I know this editorial on Nintendo’s future was written out of concern, and I’m not here to bash it as I’m sure many fanboys are. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t recognized the ignorance in it- indeed, had it been posted on any other website I would have thought it were purely for shock value and the increased traffic it brings.
Quite frankly, though, Nintendo's business practices are perfectly fine, exemplary even- you do realize they've only lost money for one quarter since going public some 40 years ago? Most other companies could never dream of being able to make such a claim. The problem, as I have always said, is the third parties. Nintendo makes the best games in the world- even if you don't care for their style, you have to admit their games are some of the finest made and most polished pieces of software on the planet- it's not a coincidence they have such an incredibly loyal following. This poses a conundrum for 3rd parties- when sitting on a shelf next to a world class Nintendo game, who's going to want to buy a mediocre 3rd party game that's riding more on image than quality? 3rd party games rarely do well on Nintendo consoles as of late because of the simple fact that most owners of Nintendo consoles would rather lay down their hard earned money for the assured quality of a Nintendo game as opposed to taking a gamble on a 3rd party game, which can range from being rare gems to little more than excrement hastily slapped on a disc. This used to not be a problem, back in the NES/SNES/Genesis days, and there's a very good reason for that- the only consoles 3rd parties could develop for were made by extremely talented 1st parties, which forced the 3rd parties to match that level of quality in order to catch the attention of the consumer and convince them to buy their game. Again, it's no coincidence that some of the best 3rd party games ever made were released during those two generations, and the bad ones nearly always floundered- quite the opposite of today.
Then along came Sony- not to disrespect the advancements Sony has made for the industry, and they are improving, but they created a console (the Playstation) completely devoid of a stellar 1st party, or really a good 1st party at all, which meant half-assed crappy games could sell much better than before simply because the consumer didn't have a choice. Conversely, 3rd partiers left Nintendo, whose consoles it was now difficult to garner sales for, requiring at least as much effort as Nintendo put into their own games. When they left Nintendo, all that was left was Nintendo, and, by association, Nintendo fans. Gone were the people who enjoyed a few of Nintendo games but really liked the diversity their consoles offered. Indeed, gone was the diversity altogether, gone to the Playstation. It's truly a testament to Nintendo's quality that their hardcore fans alone could not only support them in such bleak times but turn them an enormous profit as well. When we moved into the next generation, Microsoft released the XBox, which is based on the exact same principle as the PSX/PS2, that without the high quality 1st and 2nd parties, mediocre 3rd parties can thrive.
That's why I truly believe that it's not competition between multiple consoles that brings the best out in developers, but competition between each other on one console, at the very most two if both have extremely good 1st parties. I say this because it forces the 3rd parties to rise to the level of quality of the 1st party to catch the buyer's eye.
Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that Nintendo is doing all they can do- yes, sometimes they make some bad business decisions, but so does every company (especially Microsoft with the XBox- why no fortellings of doom for the console currently in 3rd place worldwide, not to mention losing hundreds of millions of dollars?), and Nintendo makes far less than most. It's the industry that needs to change, not Nintendo. Sony's 1st parties are gradually improving, but both the PS2 and the XBox are making it okay for 3rd parties to shove half-assed games out the door because they actually SELL. Eventually, though, when image and graphics no longer matter, when the difference in graphical ability between consoles is indistinguishable, actual game quality will be what drives sales, and it's then when Nintendo will rise once again.
As for image, that’s a subject Nintendo fans generally feel very strong about- the day Nintendo changes their image, the day Nintendo throws in blood and gore for the sole purpose of getting sales, is the day they’ve lost my business- I’ll turn away and never look back. If such elements are the result of a creative decision, that’s fine, but Nintendo’s always been about creating the best games possible, and it’s not their fault if people don’t recognize that. You forget that there is such a thing as dignity left in this world, and I’d rather Nintendo lag behind with the best games than nab the #1 spot bowing to the public’s demands. It’s no fluke that most of the developers that still do believe in dignity are Japanese. Nintendo's all I could have ever hoped for, multiplied a hundred times, and there are millions out there who agree with me- we’ve carried Nintendo this far, and have been greatly rewarded, and we will continue to carry them until the time comes when the public finally recognizes Nintendo for the incredible effort and heart they’ve poured into this industry for decades. In a world where a game can ride on image alone, Nintendo is holding true to the one mantra they’ve kept for so long, which is to make the best games possible. If that means they’re not the sales leader, so be it, as long as they still make a profit. I’d rather live as a poor man with a clear conscience than as a rich man with none at all.
EDIT: Eric Josue of Otaku Ezine has posted this editorial on his website, which you can find here.
Dear Game-Revolution and Kaanchy,
I’ve been a faithful reader of Game-Revolution for 7 years now, and I regard you as the best videogame review website on the internet- you’re unbiased, you’re fair, you’re intelligent, and you know what’s relevant to real gamers. And I know this editorial on Nintendo’s future was written out of concern, and I’m not here to bash it as I’m sure many fanboys are. However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t recognized the ignorance in it- indeed, had it been posted on any other website I would have thought it were purely for shock value and the increased traffic it brings.
Quite frankly, though, Nintendo's business practices are perfectly fine, exemplary even- you do realize they've only lost money for one quarter since going public some 40 years ago? Most other companies could never dream of being able to make such a claim. The problem, as I have always said, is the third parties. Nintendo makes the best games in the world- even if you don't care for their style, you have to admit their games are some of the finest made and most polished pieces of software on the planet- it's not a coincidence they have such an incredibly loyal following. This poses a conundrum for 3rd parties- when sitting on a shelf next to a world class Nintendo game, who's going to want to buy a mediocre 3rd party game that's riding more on image than quality? 3rd party games rarely do well on Nintendo consoles as of late because of the simple fact that most owners of Nintendo consoles would rather lay down their hard earned money for the assured quality of a Nintendo game as opposed to taking a gamble on a 3rd party game, which can range from being rare gems to little more than excrement hastily slapped on a disc. This used to not be a problem, back in the NES/SNES/Genesis days, and there's a very good reason for that- the only consoles 3rd parties could develop for were made by extremely talented 1st parties, which forced the 3rd parties to match that level of quality in order to catch the attention of the consumer and convince them to buy their game. Again, it's no coincidence that some of the best 3rd party games ever made were released during those two generations, and the bad ones nearly always floundered- quite the opposite of today.
Then along came Sony- not to disrespect the advancements Sony has made for the industry, and they are improving, but they created a console (the Playstation) completely devoid of a stellar 1st party, or really a good 1st party at all, which meant half-assed crappy games could sell much better than before simply because the consumer didn't have a choice. Conversely, 3rd partiers left Nintendo, whose consoles it was now difficult to garner sales for, requiring at least as much effort as Nintendo put into their own games. When they left Nintendo, all that was left was Nintendo, and, by association, Nintendo fans. Gone were the people who enjoyed a few of Nintendo games but really liked the diversity their consoles offered. Indeed, gone was the diversity altogether, gone to the Playstation. It's truly a testament to Nintendo's quality that their hardcore fans alone could not only support them in such bleak times but turn them an enormous profit as well. When we moved into the next generation, Microsoft released the XBox, which is based on the exact same principle as the PSX/PS2, that without the high quality 1st and 2nd parties, mediocre 3rd parties can thrive.
That's why I truly believe that it's not competition between multiple consoles that brings the best out in developers, but competition between each other on one console, at the very most two if both have extremely good 1st parties. I say this because it forces the 3rd parties to rise to the level of quality of the 1st party to catch the buyer's eye.
Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that Nintendo is doing all they can do- yes, sometimes they make some bad business decisions, but so does every company (especially Microsoft with the XBox- why no fortellings of doom for the console currently in 3rd place worldwide, not to mention losing hundreds of millions of dollars?), and Nintendo makes far less than most. It's the industry that needs to change, not Nintendo. Sony's 1st parties are gradually improving, but both the PS2 and the XBox are making it okay for 3rd parties to shove half-assed games out the door because they actually SELL. Eventually, though, when image and graphics no longer matter, when the difference in graphical ability between consoles is indistinguishable, actual game quality will be what drives sales, and it's then when Nintendo will rise once again.
As for image, that’s a subject Nintendo fans generally feel very strong about- the day Nintendo changes their image, the day Nintendo throws in blood and gore for the sole purpose of getting sales, is the day they’ve lost my business- I’ll turn away and never look back. If such elements are the result of a creative decision, that’s fine, but Nintendo’s always been about creating the best games possible, and it’s not their fault if people don’t recognize that. You forget that there is such a thing as dignity left in this world, and I’d rather Nintendo lag behind with the best games than nab the #1 spot bowing to the public’s demands. It’s no fluke that most of the developers that still do believe in dignity are Japanese. Nintendo's all I could have ever hoped for, multiplied a hundred times, and there are millions out there who agree with me- we’ve carried Nintendo this far, and have been greatly rewarded, and we will continue to carry them until the time comes when the public finally recognizes Nintendo for the incredible effort and heart they’ve poured into this industry for decades. In a world where a game can ride on image alone, Nintendo is holding true to the one mantra they’ve kept for so long, which is to make the best games possible. If that means they’re not the sales leader, so be it, as long as they still make a profit. I’d rather live as a poor man with a clear conscience than as a rich man with none at all.
21
General Chat / CPU Question
« on: December 18, 2003, 03:20:36 PM »
In my computer I have an AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton, which runs at 1.83 ghz. At least, that's why I bought, what I was told, and what it said on the box. However, I recently downloaded Aida32 and it's telling me my processor is an AMD Athlon 1900+ Barton, and that it's running at 1.46 ghz. Is this a problem on Aida's part or do I have the wrong processor?
::EDIT:: Nevermind, I fixed it- I remembered that I had dropped my FSB from 166mhz to 133mhz a while back when I still couldn't play any games (which I can now). Sorry.
::EDIT:: Nevermind, I fixed it- I remembered that I had dropped my FSB from 166mhz to 133mhz a while back when I still couldn't play any games (which I can now). Sorry.
22
General Chat / Virus Help!
« on: November 27, 2003, 02:39:31 PM »
Alas, the day has come- my computer has been infected with a virus, the "W32" virus, to be specific. It's made my computer run mind-numbingly slow, and a lot of my progrms won't run at all, nor can I open documents, like Word or Excel files. I ran HouseCall, which found some 590 infected files and told me it fixed most of them, but I still have many of the same problems. I downloaded a trial of Norton Antivirus 2004, but it's giving me hell to install. Is there anything I can do to clean up my computer short of formatting the hard drive? I'll do it if I have to, but I really don't want to.
23
General Chat / Funniest.....thing.......ever
« on: November 07, 2003, 06:53:39 PM »
My great aunt, believe it or not, sent me this hilarious movie- if you don't watch it, you'll be missing out on one of the funniest things you'll ever have the chance to experience. So..... yeah.
CLICK!!!!
CLICK!!!!
24
General Chat / Where can I get a c++ compiler?
« on: November 06, 2003, 10:32:48 AM »
Does anyone know where I can download a fair decent free C++ compiler? I'm taking a C++ class at school and wanted to be able to work on some stuff at home, too.
25
General Chat / Loony Tunes gets no respect!
« on: November 03, 2003, 12:09:26 PM »
Today at school I had no less than 6 people not only tell me the Simpsons is better than Loony Tunes, but that it wasn't funny at all. What the hell? All my waking life I have regarded Loony Tunes/Merry Melodies as the greatest collection of animated film ever created. It's not simple nostalgia that draws people back to them. These cartoons were marvels of American film, and influenced not just today's animation but modern moviemaking as well. I've been told there was nothing funny about them- really, though, what WASN'T funny? The animation, the dialog, the music, the soundeffects, the illustrations, the voices- I can't find one fault among the whole lot of them. It's not just that I'm sad that these cartoons aren't enjoyed as much now as then, but that they aren't given the respect they deserve- the fact of the matter is, today's television and movies would be entirely different were it not for pioneering short films like Loony Tunes, Disney, Tom and Jerry, and Popeye. I thought I had more support on this! I'm a man who enjoys his cartoons, and I've seen more than enough of the broad range of comedic animation to know that, plain and simple, nothing can compare to Loony Tunes- not the Simpsons, not Futurama, not Adult Swim, not South Park, not even Dexter's Lab. I won't say I don't enjoy these shows, because I do, but it's like comparing an average stone to a finely cut diamond. Why can't people recognize the genius of these cartoons? WHY I ask you, WHY? o_O
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