by Matt | Sep 30, 2002 | Imported Entry
Well, it’s a soft spot as far as being a consumer whore goes. Video games I’m afraid, are my weakness. It’s no surprise that I happen to like an industry that is treated by the public in much the same way that it’s customers are treated: with snubbed noses and raised eyebrows. Lawmakers continually lead crusades against video game makers in an attempt to censor or outright destroy the one thing we have left that makes us geeks happy. I’m a geek. I use the term proudly. In schools across the world, geeks are misunderstood and frowned apon. Any child who knows more about a computer than an adult simply must be “odd” or “warped” in some way. The truth is that we’re smarter than you and you’re scared shitless but you don’t want to admit it. “You” being a general term for “The Man” (see last entry below for an explanation of “The Man”). We, the average geek, have the hand eye coordination of a ninja, the brain power of a rocket scientist and the cool dry wit of Bruce Willis and Harison Ford combined. We can and will reciet the front side bus speeds of our graphics cards on a whim and can tell you the model numbers for the entire arsenal in Counter-Strike. We will bitch-slap you with our AK-47s from half-way across de_dust. You will take it and like it. We are geeks. We game, therefor we are.
*cough*
Ok, maybe that was a bit much. The point is that UT2k3 was released secretly to some retailers Saturday and pre-orders have already been shipped. According to UPS tracking, my personal pre-order shall be here tomorrow (Monday). For the rest of you that means that tomorrow (also Monday) you’d better get your arses down to your friendly neighborhood Electronic Boutiques or CompUSAs and pick up a copy if you haven’t done so already. You can expect a full and complete review sometime tomorrow night. Well… maybe. I might be too busy blowing shit up to stop drooling let alone form complete and coherent thoughts tomorrow night so we’ll just leave that review as a possibility. Definatly by mid-week.
G’night.
by Matt | Sep 29, 2002 | Imported Entry
You know… usually a day doesn’t go by where I don’t hear of something else that pisses me off. I don’t know what kind of diseased funk this country has gotten itself into but everything is taking the fast track to the shitter and it’s really starting to get on my nerves. Everything from corporate America to the music industry, price of gas and commercials before the movies at the cinemas. THIS SHIT DIDN’T USE TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!! Why doesn’t anybody see this?!?!?! Why is everyone O.K. with being charged $2.50 at an ATM? Today, like most days, is no exception. In fact, today I’ve come across at least a dozen things that really really piss me off. And now I’ll share them with you in hopes that someone else MIGHT be slightly annoyed as well. Maybe if enough people don’t like what the worlds coming to we can turn it around and change it. The odds of that happening are pretty fucking slim, but it’s worth a shot.
Before I get to all the things that are pissing me off today, I’d like to hypothesize as to some of the reasons why all this is happening. My first thought is that the gene-pool got real shallow real quick. Think about it. How many times have you see someone cross 3 lanes of traffic and nearly kill 20 people only to think “man that guy is dumb”? Now think about how often you did that 10 years ago. How often did we hear about guns in schools, people suing McDonalds for being fat, SUVs, cell phones etc? STUPID PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO KILL US! I can say, without fear of being mistaken, that the person that designed the first consumer SUV (note: not for commercial or industry use, where they might need a larger vehicle) was a raving ass-hat. “Gee, this thing only gets 2.5 miles to the gallon, but it can transport the entire ass-hat soccer team so I guess it’s a good idea.” We should find that guy and hit him with a really big stick until he apologizes.
My second theory is actually an age old one. That this is the end times, Armageddon is approaching and we’re all fucked. Who else could invent MTV but the devil? Come on now, think about. Put your “I’m not religious so you must be wrong” dogma away and think about it. The whole “entertainment” industry is crap, there’s nothing good on TV, Frank Sinatra is dead, baseball has disenchanted sports fans, mothers don’t stay home with their kids and teach them whats right and wrong, there are shootings in ELEMENTARY schools, the government is fucking everything up and somehow Justin Temberlake is allowed to live. What other explanation can there be but the existence of pure evil?
Speaking of pure evil, my last and final possibility involves just that. Not satanic evil mind you, but the evil of man. Corporate man to be exact. Yup, the phrase “damn the man” has never been so aptly used than in today’s society. Who’s trying to make you pay for downloading songs? The man. Who’s trying to cover up the fact that their new line of cars will kill you instantly on impact? The man. Who’s scared of kids having a good time and outlaws events with more than 20 people? Yup, you guessed it, the man. Pop music, fatty foods, health and “beauty” products, gas prices, CD prices, The Gap, Microsoft, the downfall of western culture… all easily blamable on “the man.” I mentioned yesterday an article that pointed out that CDs should only cost a dollar or two. This is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. Companies, marketing teams, board of directors, and people like them, deciding to sell a consumer product at a 1500% percent mark-up only because they can and people are stupid enough to buy it.
All this crap makes me sick. There’s not much I can do about it either. Believe me I try though. I’ve written a total of 7 letters of my congressman. I’ve even considered writing one to our president but I figured he’d never be able to figure out words with more than 4 letters. I’m by no means a perfect person, forsaking all consumer goods and living in a cave with nothing but a computer and a home-spun linen cloth. No, I sit at home, in my leather office chair, drinking a Mt.Dew, with my New Balance sneakers on, downloading music and pondering which major film brand to put in my expensive camera next. Like I said, I’m not perfect. I’m far from it. But I do my part. I refuse to buy an SUV, I don’t wear anything made my Nike, I bought an AMD processor and didn’t pay full retail price for Windows XP. I don’t shop at Walmart if I can avoid it, I read Jack Kerouac on the weekends instead of watching Sunday Night Football on NBC and I download as much music as humanly possible. That’s right, fuck the RIAA, fuck Britney Spears, fuck congress, their laws and the horses they rode in on. This is the one thing I’ve picked to be completely and totally adamant on. I will NOT ever stop downloading music. I will only buy import CDs or from small independent artists. I will make a stand. My bumper stickers (anti-RIAA and Pro MP3) are already on my car. Damn the man, damn him as soon, as often and as hard as possible.
“Damn the man, save the Empire”
*breathe*
Ok, so now you know the reasons behind my anger. Now, how about a few specifics to liven up your day. I hope you enjoy the evilness that is our world:
Fuck you, RIAA and your attempts to shame people into not downloading music.
M.U.S.I.C stands for something other than Must Unite and Sack Idiotic Congressmen, although I wish it didn’t.
The RAVE Act, whose acronym stands for “Reducing Americans’ Vunerability to Ecstacy” is vague and useless. Great to see that “the system” is really at work. Good job boys. Read more.
War. Are you people insane? Wait… you are. Nevermind.
Another great idea: Record Labels Request Online Sabotage Rights. Umm, no thank you. I don’t want the future of the internet to be determined by the same people who gave the green light to a Justin Timberlake solo album.
What a good idea… charging for something that should be free. What’s next, ATMs that charge you for using them… wait a second. Uh oh.
Stealing commissions… now that’s just wrong.
Alright, and to finish all this ranting and raving up, here’s an actual quote from an artist on the M.U.S.I.C website. Enjoy the stupidity of people who should know better.
“Musiq, Singer, Platinum Award Winning Urban Music Artist, “AIJUSWANASEING: “I think that people do need to be educated on the seriousness of music piracy because it cuts into hard working people’s money, especially the artists—people like me.”
Ok…
A: Your name is Musiq and your cd is called “AIJUSWANASEING”. You sir, are a moron.
B: You’re an “urban” cover artist. You don’t “work hard.” You cover Stevie Wonder tunes you ass-hat.
C: Aren’t you being a tad self-centered, especially considering your house probably costs more money than anyone who’s ever downloaded anything you “yelled in the microphone and recorded” might ever see.
Stupid people piss me off. A lot.
by Matt | Sep 27, 2002 | Imported Entry
In an article at PC Magazine, John C. Dvorak talks about the reasons that cds should be $1.40 instead of $16+. This is the final quote from the article.
“The U.S. government should not be corrupted by the Recording Industry Association of America and should instead do more about price fixing. And let’s stop lecturing people about legality and morality. Students in particular are not moral reprobates, nor are they fools. They are pragmatists, and they stretch the rules along with their budgets. This is a crowd that worships the fake ID and is taught to question authority. So you’re going to lecture them about copyrights? Give up. Rethink your business model. The problem will be solved.”
by Matt | Sep 27, 2002 | Imported Entry
Well, my photo shoot when very well yesterday. I dropped off the film this afternoon and got the film back just a few minutes ago. I’m good. I’m damn good. Actually, they probably need to be cropped a bit in photoshop, but that’s no big deal. So, missions accomplished.
Speaking of photoshop, I’ve been playing with Chip’s logo, per request, and trying to come up with a smaller version for his photo gallery. I’m sure if you shoot over to Chocobo.cx, he’ll have it up somewhere.
In even more photoshop news, after helping Lauren out with a logo design for her hotel project, I got the logo bug myself and picked up a book on logo/letterhead and buisness card design. I’ve already had a few ideas but the book help cement a few of the in the realm of possibilities.
As for the rest of my day, I’m going to do nothing. A great, awesome, well needed nothing. Lauren is downtown working in the AutoCAD labs on a blueprint/floorplan and is then having a “girls night out”. Jason is going to see that new Jackie Chan movie with Mellissa and Nagle is busy with Katie. That leave me all alone at home to sit and enjoy my video game utopia. Oh how I wish it was October 1st so I could be installed UT2k3 at the moment… but that will have to wait until next weekend.
That is all.
Recent Comments