Torture Talk with John Stewart
This made me laugh
Pretty much sums up “Achievements” in my mind
A screenshot from the soon to be released Devil May Cry 4 (360/PS3) off the PS3 when you unlock an achievement (with a little bit of editorializing from Joystiq (it’s that little bit in the lower right))…
People seem to go nuts over these achievements, and I just don’t get it… Isn’t getting all the items, or completing the game on the harder difficulty the achievement? Do you need the game to confirm that, in fact, you did get 20,000 points in a level? A system built into a game itself is fine, rewards of new weapons or new play modes after beating a game once gives it replay value and makes someone who spent 50 or 60 bucks feel like it was a good investment… Achievements are just bragging rights, and bragging rights for video games has always seemed, simply put, stupid… People who own X360s (and this isn’t all, so don’t take it as that) will rent games notorious for easy achievement points (::cough:: Avatar ::cough::) just to raise their gamer score… It makes gaming into a meta-game for socially competitive types, and I don’t want a meta-game… That’s not why I play video games. But maybe I’m the weird one here. The fact that Sony and video game makers seem to be bowing to this on the PS3 is pissing me off, but alas…
Conan the’Brien
A great clip from last night’s Conan…
In honor of that special something.something moving to Canadia…
Can We?
I have been supporting Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich since the race began, but in the back of my mind I always knew that he would never gain the widespread support of the American people. As expected, Kucinich has dropped out of the race, and the most promising progressive candidate at this point seems to be Barack Obama.
But how progressive is he? Obama (so he says now) would not repeal the Patriot Act if elected to office. He has, on numerous occasions, made statements about bombing Iran. He has also expressed admiration for one of the least progressive presidents in America’s history. His campaign has spent more time attacking Hillary Clinton than it has proposing solutions to the festering stinking garbage heap of problems that this country faces in the next four years.
But there’s also another side to all of these statements. Like it or not, this is how successful candidates play the game of politics, and it’s promising to see a Democratic candidate actually acknowledge that. If Obama gets the nomination, he will not become another inept milquetoast like Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore and John Kerry were come November. The man is unafraid to get some dirt under his fingernails, and those other idiots were terrified to play that kind of political game, and that’s a big reason why they lost.
Obama is incredibly popular right now, and he clearly possesses the knack for bipartisanship that Bill Clinton had. But while Clinton did some very positive things during his presidency–such as leaving office with a surplus–he also pared welfare down to near nonexistence and spent hundreds of billions of dollars on military expenditures. Will Obama take the same track? Is it possible for him to be successful and avoid that path?
I like the guy, and I think he would be a wonderful change for the United States. But he is not a savior, not a folk hero, not an activist, and not your best friend. He is a politician, and like all politicians, he is motivated by personal gain and self interest. That may lead him to fuck up the country less than his predecessor in the hopes that his historical legacy will be more lauded, but it doesn’t change the fact that Obama is in this thing (like every other candidate) for Obama.
Will.I.Am, Scarlett Johansson, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, and numerous other celebrities have made the music video below in support of Obama through DipDive. It’s kind of uplifting, but also just a little schmaltzy. It’s also directed by Jesse Dylan, who happens to be Bobby’s eldest son:
A little background information regarding this phrase “Yes I Am”. The United Farm Workers and Caesar Chavez developed this as a rallying cry in the sixties and seventies as they campaigned for labor reform (though they used the Spanish “Si se puede”). Obama’s commodification has ignited some hostility, since this is a very sensitive subject to the UFW (if you visit the link above, you can read about their legal battle with Aero Mexico over the phrase).
Is Obama using this rhetoric because he genuinely cares about the immigration situation? Is he concerned about the rollbacks on labor rights that have taken place over the last eight years? Or is this just another political maneuver aimed at garnering the former John Edwards supporters?
I’ve given up hope for a candidate like Kucinich, and I think it’s important to support Obama because he clearly would be a better choice than McCain, even if they both are political hacks. In the 2000 election, Nader often pointed out that there was absolutely no difference between Bush and Gore, but clearly there is, even if Gore wasn’t an ideal candidate at the time. I don’t like some of the things that Obama says, but at the same time we are stuck together in an imperfect political system with unappealing alternatives. I wish my support for him could be more idealistic and I wish I could believe in his candidacy the way that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar does.
But you know what? FDR made some questionable decisions as well, and Congress imposed the two term presidential limit to avoid having a politician become as powerful as he became. Even so, if John McCain had been elected to the presidency in 1932 (and I haven’t checked, but he actually may have been an eligible candidate at the time) this country would still be in The Great Depression, and we’d all be conscripted and crawling through tunnels in North Vietnam. I don’t gush over Obama, but I think he’s the best chance we’ve got.
The Flashbulb Uploads Latest Album To Torrent Sites
I had mentioned in a previous comment to Big Jar that if he liked Aphex Twin, he should give The Flashbulb’s “Kirlian Selections” a chance… It’s an amazing album that is something I think most people should at least listen to once. Little did I know when I made that comment that The Flashbulb was just about to release his newest album directly to a major torrent site. If you were to “pirate” the latest album by The Flashbulb “Soundtrack To A Vacant Life” from one of the many torrent sites out there, it was most likely uploaded by the artist himself (Benn Jordan). In an html file inside the torrent you will find this message…
Hello listener…downloader…pirate…pseudo-criminal…
If you can read this, then you’ve more than likely downloaded this album from a peer to peer network or torrent.
You probably expect the rest of this message to tell you that you’re hurting musicians and breaking just about every copyright law in the book. Well, it won’t tell you that.
What I would like to tell you is that my record label understands that a large portion of people pirate music because it is easier than buying it. CDs scratch easily, most pay-per-download sites have poor quality and ****ty DRM protection, and vinyl is near impossible to find or ship without hassle.
In many cases I wonder why people buy CDs at all anymore. A few like the tangible artwork, some haven’t adapted to MP3s yet, but most do it because they have a profound love for music and want to support the artists making it. Kind of restores your faith in humanity for a moment eh?So, now what?
Like the album? About to go “support the artist” on iTunes?
Well, don’t.
Alphabasic is currently in a legal battle against Apple because NONE of our material (Sublight Records included) receives a dime of royalty from the vast amount of sales iTunes has generated using our material.Want to buy a CD just to show your support?
If you don’t particularly like CDs, don’t bother.
Retailers like Best Buy and Amazon spike the price so high that their cut is often 8 times higher than the artist’s. Besides, most CDs are made out of unrecyclable plastic and leave a nasty footprint in your environment.If you do particularly like CDs, buy them from the label (in our case, alphabasic.com). After manufacturing costs are recuperated, our artists usually receive over 90% of the actual money coming out of your wallet.
In addition, all of our physical products are made out of 100% recycled material.Want to show your support?
Go here and browse our library of lossless, DRM-free downloads.
Already have that?
Then feel free to donate whatever you want to your favorite artist. 100% will go directly to them.
Hell, you can even donate a penny just to thank the artist.If you really like ‘The Flashbulb - Soundtrack To A Vacant Life’ and want to show your support without it going to greedy retailers, distributors, and coked-up label reps, then click the button below.
[link to http://www.alphabasic.com/index2.htm ]
If you send us your mailing address, Alphabasic may occasionally send you various goodies (overstocks, stickers, even rare CDs) in appreciation and encouragement for your support.
Thanks for reading.
Who knows if my little business plan here will work to fund new releases, but even failure is better than the crappy label/distributor/retailer system musicians have suffered from for over 50 years.
We hope you enjoy the music as much as we do releasing it.
Finally, if you plan on sharing this release, please include this file. The only reason it is here is to show the listener where he can support his favorite artists!Benn Jordan
CEO - Alphabasic Records
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I would highly encourage everyone to find this album, download it, and if you like it, send the man a donation. Perhaps we can all encourage more artists to start supporting a system where a middleman (the RIAA and money grubbing record labels) are not needed.. If you needed a reason to stop buying shitty DRMed/poorly encoded Apple iTunes music, you heard it from Weird Al, now from another artist. DON’T BUY FROM ITUNES. Almost nothing gets to the artist.
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Peace..
Read more
Barack supports/ed marijuana decriminalization. ::Cheers::
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He had raised his hand in an early democratic debate for not decriminalizing marijuana. To quote the Washington Times story…
Asked about the two different answers, Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign said he in fact has “always” supported decriminalizing marijuana as he answered in 2004, meaning the candidate mistakenly raised his hand during the presidential debate last fall.
I can’t believe this man is still on TV…
…and it’s wonderful…
Link -_-_-
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In other news…
My favorite “Worst Person in the World” in a long time…
Link –_–_–
Hyphy: The Next Generation of Hip-Hop
The streets of Oakland have given rise to an emerging hip-hop subculture called hyphy. Wikipedia defines the music as follows:
Hyphy music is distinguished by gritty, pounding rhythms and in this sense can be associated with the Bay Area as crunk music is to the South. An individual is said to “get hyphy” when they act or dance in an overstated, fast paced, and ridiculous manner. Those who consider themselves part of the Hyphy movement would describe this behavior as “getting stupid” or “going dumb.” In contrast to much of popular American culture where these phrases would be considered negative or even insulting, Hyphy is distinguished by taking this kind of behavior as a form of pride.
Cars are also a crucial component of Hyphy culture, as they are in other forms of hip-hop and street culture. Participants will often gather on street corners to show off their vehicles and their prowess behind the wheel (these gatherings are often called “sydeshows”). Activities include street racing, stationary maneuvers such as doughnuts, and “Ghost Riding the Whip.” Ghost riding, the most famous expression of Hyphy culture, occurs when a driver puts his or her car in neutral, opens the doors, and dances on the hood or alongside the car (usually, the driver recruits others to join in on the celebration.) For a more detailed explanation, please refer to the video below:
Here are some examples of ghost riding gone horribly wrong. If you want to ghost ride the whip, you should probably do it at speeds under five miles an hour:
The Hyphy dance style is one of the most distinct and intriguing aspects of the subgenre, as one can see in the video below:
Who runs this woman’s campaign?
I mean come on… This is too easy… Hillary’s official campaign song is “When The Lady Smiles” by Golden Earring from the year 1984…. Never heard of either of those two names or that year? Well, here’s the video for said song… The word “controversial” might come to mind… Let it… . . . Let it simmer…
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In other news, if you have a next-gen system (read not a Wii (even though it really is the most next-gen of all the next-gen systems, but we won’t get into that right now…)) and you aren’t playing “Burnout: Paradise” what in the world is wrong with you… It is graphically stunning, the crashes are the best I’ve ever seen in a video game, and the driving engine is superb… I’m hooked on it right now, despite some of the terrible music in the game… with one large exception… the title song… Can anyone guess it?
