The last five posts on this blog have all been somewhat similar. All in, around, or above the 1000 word count. Lots of anecdotes, opinions, and personal points. This isn’t a particular focused blog. It’s the stewings in my mind that I’ve exported into a more easily shared format.
Go back to the last ten or fifteen and the trend is even more glaring. This is a comfort zone.
Some comfort zones are good. It gives you a safe foundation to grow on and experiment from.
Some comfort zones are bad. They suck you in like being under thick blankets on a warm bed while the chilly air outside frosts the windows.
I can’t tell you if this is a good or bad comfort zone but, like the mischievous little boy who can’t resist an opportunity to do something unexpected, this post is well below 200 words. No stories, no opinions, no points, no pictures.
I hate political rallies. I don’t even like politics. I merely accept that it exists like poisonous plants and homeless people in New York subways. However, for transparency’s sake, I do lean Libertarian–the Ron Paul variety. I have never been to a political rally and I never intend to–not even Ron Paul’s massive Rally for the Republic.
Political rallies are not my thing and I am confident it is not a past time for most people. We have better, more important things to do.
While the Left, Right, and their media lackeys are completely dumb founded by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, the rest of us are not. We know that the Rally to Restore Sanity was not a political rally. That’s why more than 200,000 of us showed up. And if you were there, you could have sworn there were a million people. The crowd was massive and covered the National Mall as far as the eye could see.
I went to the rally because of it’s non-political nature and I wanted the two foursquare badges. The fact that foursquare announced two new swarm badges a few days before was just gravy. I am now 4 badges richer than I was before the rally. Score! AT&T had an impossible time trying to service all the cellphone activity at the National Mall. My phone simply did not work until I walked further into downtown DC.
Non-Politics
My favorite part about the Rally to Restore Sanity was how non-political it was. There were plenty of people who had a political agenda and thought they were there supporting the cause of the rally or fighting against it. These people were misguided. This wasn’t a Liberal rally no matter how much those on the Left and Right want to portray it as such.
There was a time when the TEA Party wasn’t about Left or Right. However, the Left and Right managed to change that by actively wooing it from one side and attacking it from the other. A two pronged strategy that inevitably forces everything to settle into the Left/Right paradigm.
This is where the Rally to Restore Sanity gives me hope. I’ve been actively holding myself back from ridiculing the TEA Party because I was there when the TEA Party was originally conceived during Ron Paul’s 2008 Presidential Campaign. It’s like being a parent and you don’t want to believe that your offspring has turned into a monster.
The TEA Party has strayed so far from it’s original intent that I can barely recognize it anymore. The TEA Party used to protest the Left and the Right. Now, it has become part of the Right and they only protest the Left. I’m ready to disown the TEA Party.
God Hates Bats
It may be a coincidence that the Rally to Restore Sanity took place so close to Halloween but, it created an environment that was much less political. There were those were fairly lost like a lady with a sign about socialism and another lady with a sign that read, “vote sanity, vote democrat”. These people clearly had no idea what the rally was about. Just to be fair, there were a few Libertarians holding Don’t Tread On Me flags and the like but, they were far out numbered by the Liberals and their Left-wing agenda attacking the TEA Party.
The anti-TEA Party signs annoyed me the most. They were purposefully trying to polarize America. The one crazy socialist didn’t bother me as much because she was just out of her mind.
The Halloween costumes really added to this rally. There were people walking around as Captain America, Spider-Man, Supergirl, Superman, Ninja Turtles, aliens, zombies, bears, bicyclists–wait no, those were just silly folks taking the slowest, most resistance filled way through the National Mall, the Joker and Harley Quinn, and more. There were also all kinds of politically meaningless signs that truly added to the atmosphere of non-politics. The Joker and Harley Quinn couple holding a sign that read “God Hates Bats” personified how much this rally was not about politics.
The Show to Restore Sanity
If you really wanted to experience the performance on stage by Stewart and Colbert then you were better off staying at home. I didn’t actually hear or see any part of the on stage performance. I watched that part when I got home. The show part of the rally was quite entertaining and the musical surprises were awesome.
In perfect coherence with the objective of the rally, the show was not political. Instead, it was exactly as what fans of the The Daily Show or the Colbert Report would have come to expect: entertaining, funny, and an all around good time.
The only serious moment was at the end when Jon Stewart gave his closing remarks and it was an incredibly well orated and reasonable speech.
A lot of what Stewart said is highly quotable and I believe it is the sentiment of the majority of America. We are not either playing on the Red Team or the Blue Team. We are–for the lack of a better term–Team America. And we’re nothing like how we are portrayed.
“Strangely, calmly good, because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us through a funhouse mirror, and not the good kind that makes you slim and taller — but the kind where you have a giant forehead and an ass like a pumpkin and one eyeball.” – Jon Stewart
Once upon a time, I was a dumbass–bet you didn’t see that one coming! Yes, a dumbass. And lets be honest, we’ve all been dumbasses from time to time. We might be a dumbass right now. Who knows? You can only truly tell from hindsight.
There was a time many years ago that I truly cared when I accidentally offended someone. Someone took something I said out of context or was somehow overly sensitive. Why did I care? Well, I was a dumbass.
I wanted to be liked by everyone. I guess it was a matter of fitting in. I didn’t really want to be different. I know, how ridiculous is that? Aspiring to be a clone. It’s comical how dumb we are when we’re younger. Now, I try to stand out as often as I can. I love being me. And if you don’t like it, well, fuck you. More or less.
I’m not purposely trying to offend you. If I was, I’d be direct about it. You’d know it. And I’d mean it.
If I want to make a point, it’ll be sharp. Don’t worry.
F*ck the Politically Correct
We are a nation of political correctness. It’s a sad state of affairs. We’re all too scared to say and do things because–God forbid–someone might take offense. Not that we are trying to offend anyone, just that someone might take offense. We aren’t attacking anyone personally. But, someone–real or imaginary–might take offense and we can’t have that!
Please live a little. Life really isn’t long enough to be so tightly wound.
The real kicker are the holier-than-thou’s who will jump at the chance to call you a racist, sexist, bigot, or some other derogatory term. My message to those assclowns: fuck you.
I claim that there are not nearly as many racists, sexists, or bigots out there as some of us would like to romanticize. That’s right, I said it. Romanticize. The world has been a lot worse decades and centuries ago. The absolute worst kind of people who romanticize this aren’t those playing the victim. It’s those constantly worried about being the victimizer.
Under the guise of trying to eradicate an evil, they constantly bring up that evil. Giving so much thought to any idea is giving it power. This is the absolute opposite of eradication.
Now, I have no scientific proof to show you that as a people, we are more tolerant and less bigoted. But, the pessimists don’t have any evidence that we’re all assholes either. This is really just a pissing contest. So, I’m going to stick with my optimistic outlook.
Looking For the Wrong Subtext
Subtexts are everywhere. It appears to be something people are very good at producing. However, we’re not nearly as good as reading the subtexts. Since everything between the lines are invisible, it’s akin to reading tea leaves.
Subtexts can be read in an infinite number of ways. One or more of those ways will be offensive in any given time period. But, who is to say which subtext was meant? Why do we default to the worst possibility?
And by we, I don’t mean all of us. Just the loud mouths in society. The people on TV. The people who publish the news. And the people who happen to scream louder than everyone else.
Talking the loudest doesn’t make you right. It makes you heard but, not right. Don’t forget it.
To Hell with the Haters
Most of us aren’t living day to day trying to be an asshole. We aren’t looking to offend anyone. We don’t need to be policed. We are good people. We will joke and we will be playful. Life is a lot more comical than it is serious. We are born and then we are destined to die. There’s no getting around that one.
Only the most bitter are living a life looking to be offended. Looking for the negative. The rest of us just want to live as peacefully and happily as we can.
To those who likes to pass judgement on others. To those who like to tell others what to do. To those who like to tell others how to live. To those who think they know better than everyone else. To those who like to take offense for other people. To those who would rather be politically correct than real. To those who are really just full of shit. To the holier-than-thou’s:
To quote a really catchy song, “And I’m like… Fuck You.”
Please Take Me Out of Context
I am thoroughly trying to piss off the self-proclaimed guardians of what is and is not acceptable. You morons have inflicted plenty of undue hardship on perfectly good people. Trust me, if Hell exists, you guys are on the fast track there. Not the people you demonize.
I’m going to say this once. I am not a racist, sexist, or bigot. You don’t have to believe me. If you know me, you’ll know it. And that’s really all that matters.
Feel free to quote something I say and paint me as a bigot. That’s about all you know how to do anyway. In the grand scheme of things, you are just a cancer.
Because I love how Will Smith thinks. I will let him provide some positive words of great wisdom.
I have a bare bones knowledge of comics so Comic Con has never been something I’ve gone to. This year, a friend of mine had a free ticket so why the hell not? I couldn’t make heads of tails about the comic part of Comic Con and I didn’t know any of the artists. I did see Lou Ferrigno and Jerry The King Lawler. I know who they are!
There were also a lot of pretty pictures–I’m going to get stoned by hardcore comic fans.
While the comics didn’t do much for me, I still appreciate the culture that Comic Con represents. I proceeded to the other section of Comic Con with game companies. Aha! I know these. Much more at home here.
There was also an anime convention going on in the same place but, it was a bit hidden and half-assed. I generally like to look at cosplay photos because they are so elaborate sometimes. I appreciate the effort that goes into creating these costumes–kinda like Halloween. Maybe I should do some cosplay? Or I should get my lazy ass to actually have a costume on Halloween. One step at a time.
There were plenty of cosplayers at Comic Con and quite a few of them were very impressive. Loved it.
IGN and Sprint
While I don’t really read anything at IGN anymore and I’m an AT&T customer, I spent most of the last couple hours at their booth. They had a Kinect demo there but, that wasn’t why I was there.
My brother’s girlfriend was working the booth as a model–she might kill me for linking the picture from IGN but, I don’t think she reads my blog; she’s in the middle. She was X-23 from the new Marvel vs Capcom 3 game. I had no idea who X-23 was–see, my comic knowledge is crap. So I met up with my brother and he played a demo of Dance Central on Kinect.
That’s the one game I’d like to play on Kinect. Nothing else really interests me. My brother looked a little foolish playing that game for the first time. I assume we all would but, it looked fun. Dancing in front of a bunch of strangers is never easy so I guess my brother has some balls–so to speak.
We hung around the IGN/Sprint booth until Comic Con ended. I had already walked around and saw about as much as I could see. I played a demo of Donkey Kong Country Returns for Wii at Nintendo’s booth. Coincidentally, I had a dream that I played that game and it sucked. Luckily for Nintendo, it didn’t completely suck but, it didn’t live up to my nostalgia for the original Donkey Kong Country. I’m going to have to see what the game media has to say about this game before I get it.
SuperTommy VS Chun-Li
Capcom should put me–SuperTommy–in the next Street Fighter. I’ll take Street Fighter V or the next incarnation of Street Fighter IV. Do it Capcom!
While this picture on the right isn’t a versus as much as a tag team, my digital fighter self can totally take Chun-Li. On a personal note, Chun-Li is my second go to character after Guile in the games. I would also note that I’m not that good at Street Fighter. I get my ass handed to me easily online in Street Fighter 2.
I shared this photo on Facebook and a friend of mine said I looked lean. I totally agree. So this is where I will pimp the diet that I think everyone should go on. It’s good for you! Go do it.
Being that I knew one of the models at the booth, I ended up mingling with some of the other booth staff. I almost always think of Zoolander–one of my favorite movies of all time–when I talk about models. Anyway, their model for Captain America was physically impressive. I always appreciate someone who clearly has similar training ideals as I do–I discovered later that we shared the same beliefs on chronic cardio. I also found out later that he was inThe Real World: Brookyn.
All in all, it was a pretty entertaining Sunday activity to head down to the Jacob Javits Center and geek out a little. I tried pretty hard not to be a game developer and marketer dissecting why they were doing this at this booth and all of that. It’s how my brain naturally operates.
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not particularly short on confidence that borders on arrogance. I walk the line. Tip toe the edge. Tread dangerously. That’s how I like it.
My confidence that borders cockiness is more a show than anything else. Yes, I do think I am awesome. I am pretty sure there is nothing life can throw at me that I can’t handle. I’m also quite confident that–at the very least–I’ll live up to expectations. Yet, I am aware that I may fail from time to time. I’m not perfect.
I often compliment myself incredulously. That’s where it would appear my confidence might just be cockiness dressed in an expensive tuxedo. But, it is actually my ego check. I am dryly/sarcastically making fun of myself.
I mean, what kind of a jackass would have the gall to pat themselves on the back like that?!
I find it pretty entertaining so I keep doing it. I deeply believe in the content of what I’m saying but, the idea that someone would actually say it out loud is where it gets outrageous.
This mixture is hard for me to explain. I can barely wrap my mind around it. I only know that every time I incredulously pat myself on the back, I am also sending a signal to myself to keep my ego in check.
Cockiness is a mutation of confidence. Confidence is a state of mind built by past accomplishments with an eye on the future. Cockiness doesn’t look ahead; only at what was. And what really matters is tomorrow.
It’s always good to perform an ego check from time to time.
