In case you hadn't noticed, it's Christmas. Merry Christmas!
Friday, December 25, 2009
Luke 2:1-20
In case you hadn't noticed, it's Christmas. Merry Christmas!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Ako ang Simula
I should blog about the general topic of elections some time in the future.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Ham
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Rage Against The Machine - Testify
To show how lazy I am, I will just post a video.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Insecurity
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
A Night At The Movies
Gay.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Complaining About Books I Don't Read
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Massacre
Saturday, November 21, 2009
MadTV - 3 Minute Meals
Monday, November 16, 2009
Living
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Nothing Special
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Fun Time is Over...or is It?
Friday, November 6, 2009
This Is It
You know, it was impossible to enjoy the movie since the ending is a forgone conclusion. It was a documentary style thing featuring Michael Jackson's rehearsals for his big finale concert.
It was impossible to enjoy. No matter how danceable the songs are or how awesome the concert would have been, all I was thinking was, "Oh man, he's dead." All the songs became ironic. It was just morbid when they got to the "Thriller" song.
The concert would have been awesome. A lot of work went into it. It's a damn shame. I can see why all the dancers and crew were heartbroken.
The concert also included a new song and a bit about global warming. Whatever.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Oh No
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Paranoid
Its a conspiracy.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Break
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Garbage In, Garbage Out
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Update
It's my mom's birthday today. I gave her a cookbook. She seemed to like it despite being mildly sexist.
I have a lot of typing to do and I have to do it while resisting the incredible urge to play World of Warcraft my new drug.
Jesus Christ...
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Flood
Monday, September 21, 2009
Open The Valve
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tony MacAlpine - 100s of 1000s
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Getting Hooked WOW
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Underwater
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Speed Grapher
Seriously. It's that kind of show.
That character alone is the perfect metaphor to describe this show, a face asking you to take it seriously despite having a leather cozy on its nose. Fetish superpowers? Gratuitous violence? Nudity and sex? it's all here folks and ramped up to eleven. It just feels like its trying too hard to be edgy. That sums it up perfectly, tries too hard. The animation quality also suffers later on. One villain who has a skin fetish with tattoos that come to life looks badly drawn. Also the music gets recycled a lot.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Commercials Non-Stop
Sunday, August 9, 2009
American View
Say what you want about it being a Republican video but it shows the concerns of Americans that the government option and the whole health care reform shebang is a Trojan horse for single-payer, government run health care. Americans don't like big government taking over their health care. Why? Because Americans traditionally believe in the free market and want less government. The specter of big government and the whisper of "socialism" drives the Americans crazy.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Vacation
Monday, August 3, 2009
Someone Dies
Sunday, July 26, 2009
GMA's SONA
Monday, July 20, 2009
The Governor vs. The Mayor Redux
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Learning Tagalog
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sponghabob Quadradopantalon
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
CON-ASS My Ass
Monday, June 1, 2009
Sex Scandal Again
Friday, May 29, 2009
Fallout and 3: A Look Back
Last month, I played Fallout 3 a lot. I liked it and maybe I was even a little addicted. I thought it was a great game. It was. Now though, it's not as awesome after all. This is a long ass post. If you are familiar with Fallout 3 and/or Fallout you may read on. If not, don't bother. I don't make sense.
Fallout 3 was my first Fallout game in the Fallout franchise. Fallout is an RPG centered on a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by nuclear war, an America slowly rebuilding from the glowing ashes, stuck in the fifties as it would seem. The Fallout series has extensive back story and lore as was the tradition of older RPG games. It even has it's own Fallout Bible containing tidbits for those interested in the Fallout universe. Let me just say this ahead that I'm not geeky in particular to Fallout lore.
Fallout 3 got me curious in the older Fallout games so I decided to download the first and second. I hadn't gotten to the second yet as I decided to play in order and finish the original Fallout first. Once I got used to the "slow" game play of the old Fallout, I found that in many ways, it puts Fallout 3 to shame. I liked Fallout 3 but the original Fallout just ruined it for me. Allow me to work backwards and explain.
In Fallout, the character creation system is a lot more, how should I put it, "challenging" in that the points, skills and traits you distribute have such a big impact in game play. The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system in the original really made you think hard in point spending. For example, a character with Perception below 4 cannot get the Awareness perk thus you can't see the enemy's health points. A character with the Fast Shot trait can shoot many more times but cannot make accurate aimed shots thus making Perception, which determines aim accuracy, a bit of a waste. Hilariously, a character with less than 4 Intelligence points can't even make coherent sentences in dialogue screens and is treated as a caveman in the entire game by everyone. Hell, you even get offered some brain surgery by the NPCs because they feel sorry for you. The skills matter a lot too. Tagged skills double up faster than untagged. So tagging Energy Weapons early game is useless since energy weapons come much later but when the game does reach the late bits, you'll be glad you invested.
In Fallout 3 the character building system is just to easy. Fallout 3's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system doesn't have such a big impact. Why? Because, the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points can easily be raised by collecting bobble heads, getting the Intense Training perk or taking drugs. Drugs by the way are a lot more forgiving than Fallout since the there are no negative after effects unless addicted, the addicted penalties are quite small and addiction can be removed instantly for cheap. Tagged skills do not double the increase rate but are rather just one time bonuses. Skills can be raised easily by again, collecting bobble heads and reading books that are laying around absolutely everywhere. It is possible to raise all skills to 100 unlike fallout where only your Tagged skills could make it to the 200 limit and the rest may not be worth it. Even books in Fallout only increase up to about 95 then no more. It's dumbed down. I feel like it's impossible to screw up and no matter how shitty or nonsensical my build is, quests and dialogue are still the same no matter my stats and I can still kick major ass. I can't even play as a moron. Intelligence doesn't determine dialogue choices anymore since it's all there already. Charisma is useless since I can raise speech easily without it as a booster. Charisma-based perks are always shit anyway.
Game play wise, Fallout is dated but still fun. Just for kicks I made a fast, smooth talking shooter character who doesn't aim but just shoots with Fast Shot and runs with maximum Agility so I reduced Endurance since I could just move away from danger. It's turn based and it can be pretty frustrating at times especially since my companion NPC's seem to shoot me instead. There are bugs and glitches, can't say it was that perfect.
Fallout 3 has bugs and glitches too though some of them are really breaking. The V.A.T.S. error from the patch comes to mind. Again, as I reach the level cap, I'm pretty much unstoppable and can go any play style I want with little S.P.E.C.I.A.L. impact. Bruiser, thief or sniper with build having little impact. V.A.T.S. feels like cheating mode since I'm pretty much immune to enemy fire when I activate it but it's always fun for me seeing the heads roll.
When it comes to immersion and storyline, I can say Fallout really had it. The story was great and interesting. Some NPC's had voice overs and they were made by very skilled voice actors like Jim Cummings. The quests had many solutions. Diplomat characters have an easy time squeezing experience and info from people rather than though guys who end up having to punch everything that gets in the way since they can't smooth talk their way out of a fight. For example, In the finale where I met the mastermind who mutated people into super mutants or "meta-humans" as a means to unite people under one "evolved" race, racial superiority, madness, whatever. I simply used my cunning linguist skills, showed him that his creations can't even procreate by themselves thus making them naturally unsustainable and he promptly killed himself after I showed him how retarded his grand plan was. Awesome. I just made the end boss, the Master, the honcho, kill himself by crushing his dreams. Just Awesome.
In Fallout 3 the quests, except a few like The Replicated Man, Tranquility Lane and Oasis, were pretty OK although a little nonsensical. Fetch a violin? That's fine with me, not all quests have to be spectacular but the main quest however felt...weird. I won't go to detail about the whole main storyline but the ending really made me rage. There was a button which had to be pressed to save the world or something but the room had high levels of radiation. The ultimate choice was that I go in and be the damned hero or let the NPC girl, who you didn't see a lot of anyway, do it and be called a coward. Either way the doomed hero dies and the game ends no matter who it was. The game ends just like that. What's worse is that sacrifice wasn't even necessary. I had a mutant companion who was immune to radiation. IMMUNE. I asked him to push the button so nobody would have to die. It was win-win. He didn't because it was "my destiny". I raged so hard. I thought, "But..uh..but, Fallout games had a reputation for multiple solutions to problems!". I even had a companion who was healed by radiation. HEALED. AND was contractually obligated to do my bidding simply tell me to fuck off. Damn. The story sucked and the voice acting was damn repetitive. The expansion pack "fixed" the ending but whatever.
All in all the lore differed too. In Fallout for example, the Brotherhood were tech-heads. In Fallout 3 they were goody two-shoes white knights but enough about lore. I thought playing the original would make me enjoy the Fallout franchise as a whole. Instead it made me sad. A bitter, angry gamer upset over the what could have been for Fallout 3 and I have not even touched Fallout 2 yet. Fallout 3 isn't bad but it's not as good to me anymore. I still like Fallout 3 but I can't say it was the good experience I was looking for and found in the original. Playing the Fallout just ruined Fallout 3 for me. I'm going to the toilet.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Weekend of Lame Scandal
Monday, May 11, 2009
The Youth Boat
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Weekend of Disappointment
Friday, April 24, 2009
Crank: High Voltage
Friday, April 17, 2009
Left 4 Dead
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Summer Vacation
When I have nothing to do, I think. When I think, I think about things that piss me off. When I think about things that piss me off, I get pissed off and that is pretty much why summer sucks as much as school days. I sleep late then get up late. Next thing I know, my body clock is all screwed up and then I get insomnia.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Movie Classics And Cliches
Monday, March 16, 2009
We Can't Have Nice Things
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Book Covers
There's an old saying, "Never judge a book by its cover." But as you get older, this adage as well as a lot of other things, start coming of as a lot of bull. While its difficult to truly know a person, how a person dresses or acts in public is but a mask, one of the many personas we create for ourselves to fill social roles. How we act in front of our parents is a lot different than how we act in front of our peers. Still, even if they are merely alternate personas, they still form a part of that persons true character. After all, we act in ways to make others perceive us as we desire. The way a person acts I think, reflects on the way he wants to be looked at.
So what of the policeman? What exactly did he want me think? He sure likes gold? And another thing, the man carried a gun and four magazines of ammo. Think about that for a second. Four magazines makes about forty bullets or more. What's with all the ammo? Is he gonna go run to the mountains to kill some rebels? As I sat in the jeepney slowly dying from carbon monoxide poisoning, I concluded selfishly that he was probably a showoff asshole. Why the hell would anybody wear that much gold? He was a damned policeman too! In that case, that would probably make him a corrupt showoff asshole now would it? Goddamned stupid fat showoff asshole with his guns and ammo, looking all tough and flash with all his jewelry. Its types like this that give a bad image for our law enforcement.
That policeman seemed to me like he wanted to be feared and respected. Too bad all that gold and ammo stirs up bad thoughts. Not so subtle. Don't judge a book by its cover. Hmm. OK. The policeman deep down might have been a nice guy. But really folks, "nice guys" don't board public transportation with a cocky swagger, take up twice as much space, display so much wealth and carry enough ammo to kill the forty thieves. I don't like books anyway.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Personal Freedom
This begs the question, "To what end?" Why do we feel the need to be better than others? The easy answer is insecurity, insecurity with the self. I believe the world is full of insecure people who feel the need to boast even the most trivial of things. Insecure people who can't even customize a car right yet roar the engine screaming, "LOOK AT ME!" Insecure people who proudly talk down to their students or children about how awesome it is to be dentist. Insecure people who arrogantly insist we cannot possibly understand the plight of the noble poor because we are not as humble as them.
Society unfairly places standards on people. Even the idea of beauty is defined by skin whitening ads and fashion gurus. The rich are glamorized as they jet around from Paris to Tokyo eating in the finest restaurants in the fanciest clothes. "Be like them." Etiquette and manners are expected sometimes unduly. People should respect the politicians, nay, fear them or else. Even teenagers hold themselves to stupid standards separating themselves from "nerds" and behaving and dressing as they see in MTV going "emo" or whatever trendy bullshit is on nowadays. I hate it. I hate society and their goddamn standards.
What is freedom? Freedom for me is freedom from these meaningless standards. To live not for other people's or society's expectations but your own. Freedom is to stop labelling others, imposing standards, judging them and putting them in categories . Freedom is to stop living in fear of how others label you and living life as how others would demand you to. Freedom is to conquer the angst of thinking that you are somehow not good enough, inadequate and unworthy. Freedom is to actually believe that you believe in yourself. Freedom is to finally be at peace with yourself, to be content with what you have, to have no need to prove yourself to others and to share your peace with others. To hell with the rat race, I want to be free.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Laziness
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Slow People
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Everything In Life Is At The Mall
I don't like going to the mall especially when it gets crowded. I hate crowds but there's always a crowd in the mall. Yes, the mall. Malls are everywhere. Every major city in the country gotta have a mall. You aren't a city yet if you don't have at least one mall. Forget department stores, what you need is a real mall. Malls with fountains, arcades, food courts, electronics, hardware, dildo stores and so on. Your mall has to have everything to meet the needs of the average moron consumer.
You see, if I need to have my picture taken, they have all the photo shops in the mall. If I need to watch a movie, I go to the mall. I can't avoid going to the mall at least once a week. That's how those corporate assholes get you. They make it so that if you need a good or any kind of service, you must first make a pilgrimage to the mall, the magnificent temple to capitalism in our consumer culture. You must then make the valid offerings of gold (or plastic) and submit yourself to the ritualistic torture of riding escalators and waiting in line. It seems the mall is the center of the universe. People even go to church...in the mall! Why, today, I saw mass being held there. Mass, as I was taught, was a sacred ceremony where Christians worship as one people, as one community to God. Was. I don't see how mass is so sacred when next to the altar is a McDonald's logo in plain sight. Maybe it's not Jesus we're worshiping here but the Hamburglar. Malls also have little plazas where people can just relax and smoke cigarettes trying to look cool. Malls have become recreation centers in place of public parks. Even senior citizens take their goddamn morning walks in the mall.
It is intriguing to me. It's a perfect business model. People tend to bring friends and family when they go out or make laag-laag. In the mall, there is something for everyone especially families. Baby Tommy is lovingly dumped in the daycare center, Junior goes to the Arcade to waste money, Big Sister Kikay goes to the hairdresser or whatever, Mommy goes shopping for clothes too small for her while Daddy waits outside the store for Mommy while contemplating suicide. It's all good and money is to be made. Let the entire family hear mass in the mall, maybe grab lunch afterward and put another thousand pesos in Ayala's fat wallet. Kaching!
Gentlemen, I like capitalism and I'm amused with this love affair people have with malls. There are malls for the trendy rich airheads and malls for cheap "price conscious" working class assholes. Forget the poor losers and their miscellaneous sari-sari stores. The mall is where the heart is. Go now. BUY. CONSUME.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Politicians Can't Take A Joke
Politicians in the Philippines have a bad rep. Alright, to be fair, I concede that not all politicians are assholes. Some of them are probably good and dedicated individuals but I have yet to meet these mythical beings. You see, Politicians in the Philippines in general, love to throw their weight around and if you have seen some of them, that's a lot of weight. Blame it on patronage politics assuring their positions but these politicos can be really arrogant. They spend most of their time going about doing things THEIR way and just plain old dicking around. Naturally, some people have a problem with this. When somebody decides he has had enough with the mediocrity and incompetence and finally calls them on their bullshit, what happens? "Waaaahhh!!" "Waaaahhh" "Baaawww!" "Libel!" "Slander!" "Waaaahh!" Christ, for people with such thick faces, they have such thin skin. Politicians don't like criticism, or even jokes about them. If you are a media man or radio commentator, then expect them to put the screws on you good.
Poking fun at politicians is something we should do more often as a people. If people don't humiliate politicians for their failings, politicians tend to just go on and on while their egos get bigger and bigger. Poking fun at politicians is something that should ground their asses back to the earth. Of course, the jokes have to be in good taste. For example, Calling our mayor and governor childish buffoons for their petty squabbling is alright because ,well, it's pretty much true.(More on this below) Making fun of them is basically just pointing out the obvious and speaking bluntly. The idea here is that if we can mock our leaders and point out the flaws in their governance, then it will prevent them from having their egos inflated to such a degree that everything gets sucked in by it's gravitational pull.
What do we have now? People are scared. People are too scared to say anything. It sickens me that in this country, where we have freedom of speech which I am genuinely proud of, the people have lost their balls to speak up and would rather sit down with their thumbs up their ass. It has gotten to such a depressing low point that anyone who does not agree with the "lider" is cut off from funding, or his job, or his property or anything the government can possibly squeeze out of you.
Let me give you one hell of a story to make my point. This is 100% pure truth. I bullshit you not. For those of you unfamiliar with Cebu goings-on, here's the prelude. The mayor is an arrogant prick while the governor is vain and egotistical. The mayor and the governor are always quarrelling with each other. They quarrel about this, they quarrel about that. How their petty little rivalry started, nobody remembers or cares. What's important is that they keep undermining and irritating each other at the citizens expense. One time, the governor closed a road to the hospital just to spite the mayor. Yes, it is that bad. Yes, we are suffering for it and yes, nobody is impressed with their bullshit. This rivalry between provincial and municipal is basically government sawing off it's own legs.
Anyway, one fateful day, the governor invited several media men and journalists over at the capitol. While they were waiting for her, the governor suddenly swooped into the room wearing a cape and holding a decorative chicken sculpture. I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP. She fancied herself "Tandang Zora", and started conversing with the chicken, talking down to it and pretending it was the mayor! She then got a feather and began tickling the chicken while the media were busy taking photos and collectively shitting their pants going WTF!?. I always doubted the governor's mental health but GODDAMN. It was fucking front page news needless to say.
So what did I learn? I learned that even if the emperor paraded the streets naked, we would bow to him. I learned that political satire is dead in this country. I learned that the growth of politicians' egos are unchecked. And lastly, I learned that sanity is apparently not a requisite for government office.