The Sandy Hook Murders

It's the day after, and most people are left with more questions than answers. The usual suspects have crawled out of the woodwork to wage their wars on everything from psychiatric medications to video games. The introvert witch-hunt has begun, again. Poor journalism resulted in the libel and slander of an innocent man, whose own brother had just murdered his mother, and the word genius keeps popping up to describe that foul, soulless being from which Dante would have created a special circle in hell for.

On Vegans and Vegetarians

Yup, I'm going there. I will state that I ultimately don't care what you've chosen as I probably am not even aware of your existence. Also, I'm not going to tell you to stop advocating what you believe in, either. If you think eating animals is an act of pure evil, then you should be talking about it, and that's why we're here.

Vegans often ask for compelling arguments to eat meat. Obviously, the fact that vegan food is disgusting does not matter. So, I'll skip that entire thing. But like an extremist of any kind, the typical Vegan tends to have no realistic understanding of actual agriculture and human history.

Stop Combining Science Fiction and Fantasy Into the Same Category!

Yes, I know there are some pretty big literary awards and many shows, books, and films that blend them into science fantasy, but we're not really talking about stuff  like Star Wars; we're talking about how it's become acceptable to categorize two different types of stories into one "geek" category — because something like Dragon Lance totally has everything in common with a book like Contact.

Let Go of My Childhood

I'm getting older, and I'm starting to feel like it. And I don't mean in that tired, cynical way. I mean the nostalgia effect is seriously wearing off. I suppose the Internet helped with that as well. It's not like I've ever been allowed to put all the things from my past behind me. But honestly, I'd rather watch the video of He-man singing What's Up over watching an actual episode of the show.

Internet Trolls Fired and Teenage Suicide Martyrdom

It's been a busy Internet. My E-haunts have been polarized by recent events, and a lot of people are coming out of the woodwork with strong opinions on bullying and freedom of speech. As most of you already know, a reddit user lost his job after having his docs dropped, and a teenage girl committed suicide — transforming her into a martyr for anti bullying campaigns.

You Don't Love Cats

I run across this phenomenon a lot, and it really does annoy the shit out of me. What I'm talking about is mutilating and imprisoning an animal to use as your own living teddy bear. Many cat owners think it's OK to amputate part of their cat's paws so it can't really fight back and their couch can remain in pristine condition. They think it's OK to remove its genitalia so it will become more docile and never breed — like a eunuch. They think it's OK for a cat to remain locked in a house for most of its life. And they've convinced themselves that they're doing the animal a favor because they'll "love" it and take care of its basic survival needs. I am pretty sure I've heard convicted kidnappers say similar things.

The Batman Massacre

As the world knows, last night there was a massacre in Aurora, Colorado during the midnight premier of The Dark Knight Rises. I awoke to the news that 12 had been murdered and more than 50 injured. A man in his early 20s had walked into a theater, armed to the teeth, and threw gas grenades while opening fire on anyone that moved for the exits. One user uploaded his hospital pics and others filmed some of the chaos from the theater's lobby, posting the footage on YouTube. It is a real tragedy, and my heart goes out to the victims and their families.

Feminism vs. Tropes vs. the Internet

I'm going to start this blog off stating the obvious that is being ignored: Life is recursive, repetitive, and is filled with patterns. And people seem to like the recurrence of certain motifs and themes in story telling. And yes, I can fully agree that some of these are pretty sexist and send the wrong messages to our youth, but that doesn't mean all of it is.

Why 80s Cartoons Weren't Crap

Wired has an article on how crappy the 80s cartoons loved were. The article in question can be found right (here), but I don't think it's really important to read it because it's fairly generic and doesn't really go into any nuance of why our shows were bad. It just boils down to this: the 80s cartoons sucked because, and today's cartoons are better! Just look at Netflix if you don't believe me.

Feminism vs Game of Thrones

This is the type of feminist that makes everyone hate feminism. It's on the same level as the Christian who lashes out at Harry Potter for having magic, or the scientific skeptic who can't enjoy Star Trek because the central plot revolves around humanoid type aliens and panspermia being the root of life on Earth and similar planets. But in this case, I'm not even convinced she sat down and watched enough of Game of Thrones to write a proper review — as evident from the marginalization of Daenerys Targaryen, which involved plot points that didn't even fucking happen. Go figure.

Understanding Twin Peaks

It shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm a huge Lynch fan. And while Twin Peaks was celebrated for being amazing, it was also marred by TV executives. But even so, David Lynch and Mark Frost have left us with many loose ends and questions. And there is a lot of richness still to the show for people still interested, all these years later.

Active vs. Passive Entertainment

Most people really don't understand what's entertaining about challenging work. It doesn't matter if it's a book, a film, or a complex piece of music; they just don't get it. I'm here to tell you that you've been conditioned, mostly by TV, film, and video game studios, into thinking effortless, instant gratification is the best type of experience you can have. But in reality, these things are vapid, fleeting and leave you the exact same person you were before, after.

I'm not saying mindless fun is bad. But we, society, have absolutely no balance. Wouldn't you like to be entertained in a way that betters you as a human being in the process? Wouldn't you like to broaden your horizons and open up an entirely new world of possibilities? And do you really want to through your entire life without ever attempting to create something above yourself?

I honestly don't know what the answer is here. To me this looks rhetorical, but I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was a resounding NO! So, I'll assume the worst and work to convince you to give a shit.

You're not a Celebrity

Before I say anything, I realize that I'm not the only one to share this opinion. However, I think it's important to hammer home this message: You're not a celebrity; stop acting like one on Twitter and Facebook. Also, I know that you get comments from people on these banal updates: "Went to the gym." Assfuck McDumbass liked this. Plainperson Boringski: "OMG, I go to Ripoff Fitness too!!!" Generica Duckface: "I'll go with U ... after I take a pic of my dinner from Perkins and make a list of all the non events that happened today. ♥"

Why Your Band Sucks

So, you have a band and all your close friends think your music is great! But in reality, they're lying. They're your friends for a reason. And your music falls into one of two categories: Trying to sound exactly like a band you all mutually like or claiming to be original because you couldn't find an identical sounding vocalist.

Fark's Anti Atheism Slant

It's annoying and comically hypocritical. It also appears a shit ton in the site's geek section. Fark has to make sure these moronic, golden mean fallacies constantly reach us by green-lighting any semblance of an article that's anti atheism. The last one was about two paragraphs long and had the journalistic quality of a Facebook update. But we need to know that being an atheist is wrong, and it's just as bad as being a religious extremist. You know, the type who picket funerals and fight to deny people basic rights.

Spin's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time = Hilarity

A lot of people feel a sense of outrage over ranking lists. And usually the people making them aren't musicians or are fairly ignorant about anything which isn't mainstream. But this is the first time I've ever come across a list that was so bad it was actually hilarious. I want you to check it out before reading any further.(http://www.spin.com/articles/spins-100-greatest-guitarists-all-time).

OK, now that you're back, let's take a look at the greatest guitarists ever! I want to point out that some very good musicians were actually mentioned on it. John Mclaughlin was ranked 30 spots below one of the guys from Run DMC, and Frank Zappa somehow wandered into the top 20 ... just a little behind Kerry King and The Edge. Yeah, I really just fucking typed that.

On Skeptics and Believers

There is a lot of online debate about what constitutes as true skepticism. Right now, there are massive communities dedicated to debunking the paranormal and educating the public in critical thought. And there are other communities, also claiming to be skeptics, who have a slant toward certain phenomena and refer to other skeptics as "debunkers." I've talked a little about logic and science in my blog, but I think you'll be surprised where I fall on some of the issues.

My "Darkest" Video Gaming Secrets

IGN posed the question to its readers, and some of the staff confessed some pretty lame "secrets." Since I take no pride in my video game "accomplishments," I don't mind sharing some of my follies and unpopular views.

Game of Thrones = Best Show on TV

I thought since season two was nearing, I'd just talk about why this is the best show on television. When I first read the works of George R.R. Martin, I was instantly impressed with his mastery over structure and language. The detail he put into his world was astounding. His style allowed him to breathe real depth and complexity into his characters. And he can interweave sub plots in a truly literary way. And I'd dare to say, much better than Tolkien ever did.

On "Writers"

Shut up. No seriously, shut up. I've been unfortunate enough to be shown the blogs of signed writers and various agents. And while these blogs can be composed quite well, the comments sections reveal a dark underbelly of Internet critiquing. If you want to ask the Internet for non technical writing advice, don't. Nobody really knows what they're doing, and I'll get to that later on. But first, I really want to share my perspective on the bullshit I've read.