On the 28th, I went with my friend to see the Panic! at the Disco concert. It was amazing and I wish I was able to see their concert again. Panic performed with a guy named Dave Ford and the band Foxy Shazam. Dave Ford was alright, but I definitely preferred the other two bands.
Foxy Shazam is about as weird as their name. When they first got on stage and started performing, my impression was, “You know, this is quite reminiscent of Queen.” As a side note, I am NOT at all a Queen fan. There are only two songs I like by them. One is We Will Rock You and that is only when I’m at a hockey game. The other is Who Wants to Live Forever but I prefer the Breaking Benjamin cover to the original. The lead singer of Foxy Shazam moved around a lot like I’ve seen Freddie Mercury move and after pointing out that he was gay, I came to the conclusion that I was definitely watching a new version of Queen. Their set was amazing and it was quite enjoyable. The most memorable part (and definitely one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen, which is saying a lot) was near the end of the set. While explaining that he was just drunk enough to try it, he told the audience that he would stick a mic chord up his ass and have a band member yell into his mouth in the hope that the yelling would come out the speakers. This attempt failed miserably but it will be a while before the image of the singer’s pants down and ass hanging out goes away.
Panic! at the Disco was so amazing and performed a top-notch set. Brendon Urie was very engaging and did some great storytelling on the stage prior to songs. As a whole, the band was having a great time and through their energy made the crowd even more energetic too. For instance, he said that the next song had a very long name so he decided to shorten it. He said, “This song is called ‘The only difference between us is the size of our penis!’” This led to a massive crowd eruption and was probably the funniest thing I heard that night. Panic is a band that I would definitely see in concert again. My hope is that they come back to Maine soon.
The songs they played were:
From A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out:
The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage
Camisado
Time to Dance
Lying Is the Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off
I Write Sins Not Tragedies
From Pretty.Odd.:
Nine in the Afternoon
That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)
From Vices and Virtues:
The Ballad of Mona Lisa
Hurricane
Memories
Trade Mistakes
Ready To Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind)
Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…)
Monday, October 31, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Deus Ex
When I bought Deus Ex, all I knew about it was that it was an RPG and that it had an awesome looking cover. After playing it, all I can say is that it is one of the most addicting games I have ever played. The game is about an ex-SWAT member Adam Jensen who now is the security chief for Sarif Industries, a leading human augmentation company. A team of scientists, including his ex-girlfriend, were apparently killed in an attack on the company and it’s Adam’s job to find out what happened.
The back story is set up in a way that someone who is unfamiliar with the Deus Ex series like me, can easily figure out what is going on. The game is a prequel to the Deus Ex games that came out on the PC about 10 years ago, so fans of the two previous games probably will have no trouble figuring out everything. For the people like me with no previous knowledge, there are many plot items that can be found throughout gameplay like newspapers to and e-books that fill you in on things.
When it comes to gameplay, it is quite impressive. There are three ways to accomplish mission goals: stealth, combat, or a mixture of the two. This way, you can decide what kind of player (ruthless, paragon, mixed) you want to be. Also, the decisions you make impact the rest of the game. For instance, if you can’t charm your way past an old friend in the police station, you have to find a way to break in to the station instead.
There is one drawback to the game. I hope this changes in the future with DLC or something, but one drawback to the game is that when you beat the game, you’re done and there’s no going back. I personally would like to do more with Adam Jensen; he is a fun character to play.
I would highly recommend this game to anybody who likes RPGs. I had to stop playing the game because it was so addicting, I would waste hours at a time playing.
The back story is set up in a way that someone who is unfamiliar with the Deus Ex series like me, can easily figure out what is going on. The game is a prequel to the Deus Ex games that came out on the PC about 10 years ago, so fans of the two previous games probably will have no trouble figuring out everything. For the people like me with no previous knowledge, there are many plot items that can be found throughout gameplay like newspapers to and e-books that fill you in on things.
When it comes to gameplay, it is quite impressive. There are three ways to accomplish mission goals: stealth, combat, or a mixture of the two. This way, you can decide what kind of player (ruthless, paragon, mixed) you want to be. Also, the decisions you make impact the rest of the game. For instance, if you can’t charm your way past an old friend in the police station, you have to find a way to break in to the station instead.
There is one drawback to the game. I hope this changes in the future with DLC or something, but one drawback to the game is that when you beat the game, you’re done and there’s no going back. I personally would like to do more with Adam Jensen; he is a fun character to play.
I would highly recommend this game to anybody who likes RPGs. I had to stop playing the game because it was so addicting, I would waste hours at a time playing.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thoughts on Top 3 Republican Candidates
From what I've gathered, the top 3 candidates in the race for the Republican Party nomination are Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Herman Cain. I have some basic thoughts on the 3 that I will share with the probably 1 person who reads my blog.
Romney: Romney is the only candidate that I’d be okay with at this juncture if Obama loses. His flip-flopping actually makes him seem to be a more moderate choice that won’t go “tea-party” on the country.
Perry: I still feel like he has NO idea what is going on. His attacking of Romney seems to make him look like he’s five. The debates I think are showing him to be highly incompetent.
Cain: I still don’t completely understand 9-9-9, but from what I gather, it will hurt people more than help. Also, he has no idea about foreign policy, which in my opinion is just as important as domestic policy. I would not like to see a president who doesn’t know where any countries are. However, I will take that back if he can tell me the leaders of 5 countries off the top of his head.
Romney: Romney is the only candidate that I’d be okay with at this juncture if Obama loses. His flip-flopping actually makes him seem to be a more moderate choice that won’t go “tea-party” on the country.
Perry: I still feel like he has NO idea what is going on. His attacking of Romney seems to make him look like he’s five. The debates I think are showing him to be highly incompetent.
Cain: I still don’t completely understand 9-9-9, but from what I gather, it will hurt people more than help. Also, he has no idea about foreign policy, which in my opinion is just as important as domestic policy. I would not like to see a president who doesn’t know where any countries are. However, I will take that back if he can tell me the leaders of 5 countries off the top of his head.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Thoughts On Ron Paul from Meet The Press
Yesterday, Ron Paul was on Meet the Press as part of the Meet the Candidate series. I came out of the interview quite low on Ron Paul.
Ron Paul says he will cut $1 trillion of spending if he is elected. Now, that sounds great at first glance, but he does this by cutting five government departments. These are the Department of Energy, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior, and the Department of Education. Why would anybody think cutting these departments would help things at all? As a teacher, the one that really doesn’t sit well with me is cutting the Department of Education. This country has serious problems in terms of educating kids (look at the stats, I think we’re not even top 5) and I think cutting that department will push us further back.
Ron Paul had two comments on Meet the Press that were quote-worthy. One was hilarious and one was just plain stupid. The hilarious one was when Paul was talking about the difference between Obama and Romney. “We’d have to figure out which position we’re looking at with Mitt Romney, (laughs) you know, it changes.” That was very true, Romney’s main drawback is that his positions seem to flip-flop making him look at times like a liberal and at times a conservative.
The thing that made me get annoyed was when Paul was talking about making huge spending cuts. “After World War II….. finally we got over the depression, by these draconian cuts.” The depression ended BECAUSE of World War II. The country had to create jobs because men left to fight and women and the remaining men staying behind had to go to work manufacturing weapons, etc. for the combatants. This is what ended the depression, not the spending cuts made afterwards. Also, spending cuts were made because America no longer had to fight an all-out war, not just because the country was in a depression.
Ron Paul says he will cut $1 trillion of spending if he is elected. Now, that sounds great at first glance, but he does this by cutting five government departments. These are the Department of Energy, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Commerce, Department of the Interior, and the Department of Education. Why would anybody think cutting these departments would help things at all? As a teacher, the one that really doesn’t sit well with me is cutting the Department of Education. This country has serious problems in terms of educating kids (look at the stats, I think we’re not even top 5) and I think cutting that department will push us further back.
Ron Paul had two comments on Meet the Press that were quote-worthy. One was hilarious and one was just plain stupid. The hilarious one was when Paul was talking about the difference between Obama and Romney. “We’d have to figure out which position we’re looking at with Mitt Romney, (laughs) you know, it changes.” That was very true, Romney’s main drawback is that his positions seem to flip-flop making him look at times like a liberal and at times a conservative.
The thing that made me get annoyed was when Paul was talking about making huge spending cuts. “After World War II….. finally we got over the depression, by these draconian cuts.” The depression ended BECAUSE of World War II. The country had to create jobs because men left to fight and women and the remaining men staying behind had to go to work manufacturing weapons, etc. for the combatants. This is what ended the depression, not the spending cuts made afterwards. Also, spending cuts were made because America no longer had to fight an all-out war, not just because the country was in a depression.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
2012 Republican Candidates
I have been looking over the main republican candidates for the 2012 election and I have come up with some thoughts on them. I have four different things that I looked at for the candidates. My thoughts, the candidates' political culture, other stances, and Do I Want Him/Her to Get the Nomination are the four categories.
To find out more about political culture, go to http://academic.regis.edu/jriley/421elazar.htm.
Michelle Bachmann (Rep from MN)
My thoughts: Bachmann is a candidate that literally scares me. She believes climate change is not real and has said that CO2 makes up 3% of the atmosphere (actually .03%).(1) She wants to repeal “ObamaCare” and constantly invokes her faith whenever possible (there’s no problem with being religious but I believe people shouldn’t talk about it constantly, not everybody believes the same thing)
Political Culture: Minnesotan’s tend to be individualistic and she is no different. “Individualism and personal responsibility have always been the bedrock of the country”(2)
Other stances: Pro-life, Pro 2nd Amendment
Do I want her to get the nomination: Yes, but only because right now it looks like Obama would definitely win in the general election.
Newt Gingrich (Former Speaker of the House and Former Rep from GA)
My thoughts: In terms of his views, I feel as if he could be liberal enough for me to be okay with his election. He believes in creationism but says that beings could have evolved.(1) However, he does make me uneasy. If he says something that is not popular in his party, he quickly backtracks. Earlier this year on Meet the Press he said that he disagreed with the Ryan proposal. He quickly backtracked when the constituents were unhappy.
Other stances: Pro-life, Pro 2nd Amendment, Against same sex couples, homosexuality, etc., Against Unions
Political Culture: Traditional
Do I want him to get the nomination: No. He is too quick to change his story when there is a backlash and he definitely couldn’t get the nomination for the Republican Party. I am actually surprised he hasn’t bowed out yet.
Jon Huntsman (Former Gov of Utah and Ambassador to China)
My thoughts: I really don’t know much about Huntsman to make an informed decision at this moment. My impressions thus far though make me believe he could give Obama a great fight.
Political Culture: Moral
Other Stances: Immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan. Pro 2nd Amendment
Do I want him to get the nomination: I don’t enough if I’d be okay with him being the next president with the lack of information I have as of now. Like I said above, he may have enough to beat Obama so I’d probably say no at this point.
Ron Paul (Rep from TX)
My Thoughts: Ron Paul is a politician that makes Michelle Bachmann look like Hillary Clinton. My hope is that he quickly bows out to ease my mind.
Political Culture:
Other Stances: Pro-life, Immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan, would dissolve the DoE, Pro 2nd Amendment, Against 14th Amendment
Do I want him to get the nomination: Not even a little bit. I honestly think he scares some Republicans too.
Rick Perry (Gov. from TX)
My thoughts: George Bush was also a governor in Texas. If that isn’t enough for you, his college transcripts (especially social studies-related) were so poor it makes me think he is not smart enough to lead even a little league team. His personality seems to shout, “It’s my way, or fuck you!” I don’t even like democrats that act this way so I would definitely hate to see him get anywhere.
Political Culture: Traditional
Other Stances: Believes that “Climategate” is real (been proved to be false). (1) He believes that both intelligent design and evolution have holes and should be taught together.
Pro-life, pro states rights, pro 2nd amendment (2)
Do I Want Him To Get the Nomination: Not even a little bit. He seems like he’d easily lose to Obama but I don’t want to think about the chance that he could do well.
Mitt Romney
My thoughts: Four years ago, I didn’t care for Romney, but now I think he may be an interesting candidate. He believes in man-made climate change and that God created through evolution. (1) He has had a tendency to “flip-flop” on his positions though which could eventually be problem. Although I must say it means that he isn’t too stubborn to realize any flaws in his thought processes.
Political Culture: Moralistic
Other Stances: Pro-life, Pro 2nd amendment, against same sex couples
Do I Want Him To Get the Nomination: For a republican, I wouldn’t mind seeing him get the nomination right now.
Sites
1: http://www.lukesci.com/2011/09/06/all-of-the-2012-republican-candidates-on-climate-and-evolution/
2: http://2012.presidential-candidates.org/Bachmann/Issues.php
To find out more about political culture, go to http://academic.regis.edu/jriley/421elazar.htm.
Michelle Bachmann (Rep from MN)
My thoughts: Bachmann is a candidate that literally scares me. She believes climate change is not real and has said that CO2 makes up 3% of the atmosphere (actually .03%).(1) She wants to repeal “ObamaCare” and constantly invokes her faith whenever possible (there’s no problem with being religious but I believe people shouldn’t talk about it constantly, not everybody believes the same thing)
Political Culture: Minnesotan’s tend to be individualistic and she is no different. “Individualism and personal responsibility have always been the bedrock of the country”(2)
Other stances: Pro-life, Pro 2nd Amendment
Do I want her to get the nomination: Yes, but only because right now it looks like Obama would definitely win in the general election.
Newt Gingrich (Former Speaker of the House and Former Rep from GA)
My thoughts: In terms of his views, I feel as if he could be liberal enough for me to be okay with his election. He believes in creationism but says that beings could have evolved.(1) However, he does make me uneasy. If he says something that is not popular in his party, he quickly backtracks. Earlier this year on Meet the Press he said that he disagreed with the Ryan proposal. He quickly backtracked when the constituents were unhappy.
Other stances: Pro-life, Pro 2nd Amendment, Against same sex couples, homosexuality, etc., Against Unions
Political Culture: Traditional
Do I want him to get the nomination: No. He is too quick to change his story when there is a backlash and he definitely couldn’t get the nomination for the Republican Party. I am actually surprised he hasn’t bowed out yet.
Jon Huntsman (Former Gov of Utah and Ambassador to China)
My thoughts: I really don’t know much about Huntsman to make an informed decision at this moment. My impressions thus far though make me believe he could give Obama a great fight.
Political Culture: Moral
Other Stances: Immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan. Pro 2nd Amendment
Do I want him to get the nomination: I don’t enough if I’d be okay with him being the next president with the lack of information I have as of now. Like I said above, he may have enough to beat Obama so I’d probably say no at this point.
Ron Paul (Rep from TX)
My Thoughts: Ron Paul is a politician that makes Michelle Bachmann look like Hillary Clinton. My hope is that he quickly bows out to ease my mind.
Political Culture:
Other Stances: Pro-life, Immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan, would dissolve the DoE, Pro 2nd Amendment, Against 14th Amendment
Do I want him to get the nomination: Not even a little bit. I honestly think he scares some Republicans too.
Rick Perry (Gov. from TX)
My thoughts: George Bush was also a governor in Texas. If that isn’t enough for you, his college transcripts (especially social studies-related) were so poor it makes me think he is not smart enough to lead even a little league team. His personality seems to shout, “It’s my way, or fuck you!” I don’t even like democrats that act this way so I would definitely hate to see him get anywhere.
Political Culture: Traditional
Other Stances: Believes that “Climategate” is real (been proved to be false). (1) He believes that both intelligent design and evolution have holes and should be taught together.
Pro-life, pro states rights, pro 2nd amendment (2)
Do I Want Him To Get the Nomination: Not even a little bit. He seems like he’d easily lose to Obama but I don’t want to think about the chance that he could do well.
Mitt Romney
My thoughts: Four years ago, I didn’t care for Romney, but now I think he may be an interesting candidate. He believes in man-made climate change and that God created through evolution. (1) He has had a tendency to “flip-flop” on his positions though which could eventually be problem. Although I must say it means that he isn’t too stubborn to realize any flaws in his thought processes.
Political Culture: Moralistic
Other Stances: Pro-life, Pro 2nd amendment, against same sex couples
Do I Want Him To Get the Nomination: For a republican, I wouldn’t mind seeing him get the nomination right now.
Sites
1: http://www.lukesci.com/2011/09/06/all-of-the-2012-republican-candidates-on-climate-and-evolution/
2: http://2012.presidential-candidates.org/Bachmann/Issues.php
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