All obscure internet references aside - it's amazing how quick your life can change so quickly. One moment you'll be sitting in your room acting as if it was just another day, and then the next thing you know, your dads gone because your mom found out he's been leading a double life years from now.
It's just so mind numbing how things like this can happen. I'd always felt like these things only happen in stories and fiction and stuff like that. But I guess it wouldn't exist in fiction if it weren't for reality, right? Plus, I always feel like it could've been worse; my dad could've been doing this with another man or a 14-year old girl. At least the woman he was curtaining with was around his age. I just hope my dad will be okay.
I feel like I'm doing wrong still by trying to joke about it to myself and keep it quiet from my friends, but I figure it's the best I can do, y'know, considering the only other options I can think of are A) go run after my dad and make it worse on my mom, B) blaming/hating him - which would essentially be like judging him for his character, and that would be unfair to him since he'd never done that to me.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Laugh or Cry.
Comedy is the mutual understanding of bullshit between the speaker and his audience, which generates laughter and an open mind. Politics is the imbalance of only the speaker knowing what he says is bullshit while his audiences takes it for fact, which generates fear and narrow mindedness. It's a shame, then, that politics is the one that the world made apart of its system.
But for the record, I'm bullshitting that.
But for the record, I'm bullshitting that.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
The reason why natural selection sucks
In our society, many of us are taught at an early age to not be afraid to speak up and be heard, because everyone should hear what we have to say. Even if whatever we say is the single most retarded thing to have ever been uttered in the world.
Of course, in order to utter such dumbass remarks, one has to be a complete and total dumbass himself so that way he won't realize how much what he says reflects on his intellect. But this is why morons get ahead in the world: they don't care how stupid they sound as long as they're heard. And what's worse is that they're more likely to be heard the stupider they sound.
In the meantime, the halfway intelligent people spend all their time in doubt. They puzzle and ponder what will sound right, weighing all the consequences for what they say, most of which decide to shut up and stay shutted up because the negative consequences for what they say outweigh the better ones.
It's ironic how that works because the human race has thusfar succeeded because of its superior intellect, but within its own cosmos the least intelligent of us all are the one who get to lead us.
Hell, the fact that I've posted this with little to no concern for the consequences of doing so says which group of people I fit into. But then again, I'm writing this for myself by myself, because apparently there's something therapeutic about writing your thoughts than letting them ferment as a bunch of little threadeas in the mind that eventually form paranoid delusions that turn a person into a murderer or a serial rapist.
Of course, in order to utter such dumbass remarks, one has to be a complete and total dumbass himself so that way he won't realize how much what he says reflects on his intellect. But this is why morons get ahead in the world: they don't care how stupid they sound as long as they're heard. And what's worse is that they're more likely to be heard the stupider they sound.
In the meantime, the halfway intelligent people spend all their time in doubt. They puzzle and ponder what will sound right, weighing all the consequences for what they say, most of which decide to shut up and stay shutted up because the negative consequences for what they say outweigh the better ones.
It's ironic how that works because the human race has thusfar succeeded because of its superior intellect, but within its own cosmos the least intelligent of us all are the one who get to lead us.
Hell, the fact that I've posted this with little to no concern for the consequences of doing so says which group of people I fit into. But then again, I'm writing this for myself by myself, because apparently there's something therapeutic about writing your thoughts than letting them ferment as a bunch of little threadeas in the mind that eventually form paranoid delusions that turn a person into a murderer or a serial rapist.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Dressed in Code... Ech!
In layman's terms, the idea of transhumanism is that humans should overcome their limits by using science. Now I just saved you a whole lot of time from reading Dresden Codak, a webcomic that pretty much advocates said idea though hasn't updated since the last paradigm shift or whatever the fuck that is- it just sounds like there'd be a giant-ass time interval between the two, and also would be appropriate since the webcomic loves all things science and set-in-stone as science. That's also another joke because the comic's presentation itself is as abstract and surreal as watching John R. Dilworth dance to Velvet Vick hits with Syd Barret on The Dark Side of the Moon while tripping on acid laden LSD.
That last overly extensive comparison ought to reveal my main problem with Dresden Codak: it's a mess of inconsistencies and bizarre art presentation amalgamated with some arcane facts and references to science theories and philosophies. What that means is that it succeeds in pandering to nerds and failing in literary standards.
First let's avoid getting into the whole argument over whether or not transhumanism is something worth subscribing to. I'm a little bit ambivalent towards the idea myself; humans continually reaching to greater heights as a fundamental notion doesn't settle with me for the same reason I feel no sympathy for Kid Icarus, but the prospect of being able to achieve things like eternal life or the ability to pull a Jesus across the Pacific Ocean whenever I damned well please sounds very tempting.
But that's just the message that Dresden Codak attempts to deliver, the "what", if you will. What needs to have punches thrown at is the "how" of this webcomic - "how" this webcomic brings us the "what." Quite frankly, it brings to us the what in the same way a milkman were to and bring us all spoiled milk. From a dead cow. That had AIDS.
First off is the webcomic's informedly Japanese main character, Kimiko Ross. Let's first toss out my most superficial criticism that she looks like your standard animu dude. Like I said, that was superficial, but other than that, her design fits with the rest of the art style, which admittedly, is quite decent, but is largely inappropriate for the webcomic's subject matter (more on that later.) It's her characterization that fails. She, for all intensive purposes, acts as the vehicle for which transhumanism is advocated for, all done by characterizing her as an introverted, geeky, "misanthrope." These traits are fitting for the idea she's promoting, but the rest of the things around and about her contradict these notions. For example, how/why does she even manage to form a posse willing to follow her in the first place if her misanthropic tendencies would imply that she probably hates their guts as well? And what's with that short lived but overly contrived love interest? Think about how little sense it makes for someone who'd supposedly have the guts and initiative inherently needed to express the "break the unbreakable" doctrines of transhumanism to be that cripplingly shy; it would make more sense if her introvertedness was a product of arrogance and disdain for social interaction then some hamhanded attempt at creating that jejunely relatable side that every protagonist seems to need to have regardless of how well it works in-story. If I'm the only one willing to admit that she is, beneath it all, a Mary-Sue - at age 22 she is an accomplished super genius, has an overly contrived dark and troubled past involving daddy issues and a dead mom (that just has cliche written all over it in several different languages) and apparently has as much personality as there are dimensions in Atari Pong - then I'm more than willing to be labeled a crazy loon for that. Bring on the ad hominems.
Next issue is the inevitable trainwreck between the artsy presentation and the scientific message. The comic goes out of its way - very often, might I add - to explain already established theories, ideas, and philosophies, about science, but fails to do any explaining for the very universe in which it exists. And no, Rule of Funny is not an excuse because the banal, childish nerd humor just doesn;t work with the profound and mature message the story purports. There's not at least one viable or believeable explanation for when or how this takes place - yes you can argue it's inferrably the future, but a lot of the character's garments, behaviors, and dialogue don't reflect on a time any different than the present. The presentation of the comic seems to stem from techniques established by cartoons and modern art, which operated under the mantra "art for art's sake." So how does one use a presentation of art that's solely meant for itself but for the sake of science? Well, too bad there aren't any theories or laws to explain that. Also as a meta-example, were you confused by any of the references I made prior? If so, imagine those references cranked up to eleven (hey, there's another reference) except using sciency verbiage instead of literary/pop culture jargon. It may seem like a small difference, but realize that pop culture knowledge just takes a quick search on Google whereas Dresden Codak's science references take a college degree to fully understand. This is where Dresden Codak fails as a representation of the webcomics medium. Webcomics are a form of comic presentation meant to be much more accessible than a traditional comic book, and because of which, should at least try to garner as large and diverse an audience as possible. Unfortunately, the success of webcomics such as Dresden Codak and XKCD only prove how vastly inhabited the internet is by utter nerds who grow hard at the mention of something like Neils Bohr or Erlen Meyer.
Simply put, Dresden Codak is what the title of this entry suggests: veiled beneath the cryptions of science and intellectual concepts is a story that is sickeningly awful and poorly planned out. I'm sure in science when you're the only one who understands what's going on while most of everyone else is confused it means they're the idiots. However, when it comes to storytelling, you're the one who's fucking up when you're the only one who understands what's going on while the majority of the people think you're speaking E.T.ese.
That last overly extensive comparison ought to reveal my main problem with Dresden Codak: it's a mess of inconsistencies and bizarre art presentation amalgamated with some arcane facts and references to science theories and philosophies. What that means is that it succeeds in pandering to nerds and failing in literary standards.
First let's avoid getting into the whole argument over whether or not transhumanism is something worth subscribing to. I'm a little bit ambivalent towards the idea myself; humans continually reaching to greater heights as a fundamental notion doesn't settle with me for the same reason I feel no sympathy for Kid Icarus, but the prospect of being able to achieve things like eternal life or the ability to pull a Jesus across the Pacific Ocean whenever I damned well please sounds very tempting.
But that's just the message that Dresden Codak attempts to deliver, the "what", if you will. What needs to have punches thrown at is the "how" of this webcomic - "how" this webcomic brings us the "what." Quite frankly, it brings to us the what in the same way a milkman were to and bring us all spoiled milk. From a dead cow. That had AIDS.
First off is the webcomic's informedly Japanese main character, Kimiko Ross. Let's first toss out my most superficial criticism that she looks like your standard animu dude. Like I said, that was superficial, but other than that, her design fits with the rest of the art style, which admittedly, is quite decent, but is largely inappropriate for the webcomic's subject matter (more on that later.) It's her characterization that fails. She, for all intensive purposes, acts as the vehicle for which transhumanism is advocated for, all done by characterizing her as an introverted, geeky, "misanthrope." These traits are fitting for the idea she's promoting, but the rest of the things around and about her contradict these notions. For example, how/why does she even manage to form a posse willing to follow her in the first place if her misanthropic tendencies would imply that she probably hates their guts as well? And what's with that short lived but overly contrived love interest? Think about how little sense it makes for someone who'd supposedly have the guts and initiative inherently needed to express the "break the unbreakable" doctrines of transhumanism to be that cripplingly shy; it would make more sense if her introvertedness was a product of arrogance and disdain for social interaction then some hamhanded attempt at creating that jejunely relatable side that every protagonist seems to need to have regardless of how well it works in-story. If I'm the only one willing to admit that she is, beneath it all, a Mary-Sue - at age 22 she is an accomplished super genius, has an overly contrived dark and troubled past involving daddy issues and a dead mom (that just has cliche written all over it in several different languages) and apparently has as much personality as there are dimensions in Atari Pong - then I'm more than willing to be labeled a crazy loon for that. Bring on the ad hominems.
Next issue is the inevitable trainwreck between the artsy presentation and the scientific message. The comic goes out of its way - very often, might I add - to explain already established theories, ideas, and philosophies, about science, but fails to do any explaining for the very universe in which it exists. And no, Rule of Funny is not an excuse because the banal, childish nerd humor just doesn;t work with the profound and mature message the story purports. There's not at least one viable or believeable explanation for when or how this takes place - yes you can argue it's inferrably the future, but a lot of the character's garments, behaviors, and dialogue don't reflect on a time any different than the present. The presentation of the comic seems to stem from techniques established by cartoons and modern art, which operated under the mantra "art for art's sake." So how does one use a presentation of art that's solely meant for itself but for the sake of science? Well, too bad there aren't any theories or laws to explain that. Also as a meta-example, were you confused by any of the references I made prior? If so, imagine those references cranked up to eleven (hey, there's another reference) except using sciency verbiage instead of literary/pop culture jargon. It may seem like a small difference, but realize that pop culture knowledge just takes a quick search on Google whereas Dresden Codak's science references take a college degree to fully understand. This is where Dresden Codak fails as a representation of the webcomics medium. Webcomics are a form of comic presentation meant to be much more accessible than a traditional comic book, and because of which, should at least try to garner as large and diverse an audience as possible. Unfortunately, the success of webcomics such as Dresden Codak and XKCD only prove how vastly inhabited the internet is by utter nerds who grow hard at the mention of something like Neils Bohr or Erlen Meyer.
Simply put, Dresden Codak is what the title of this entry suggests: veiled beneath the cryptions of science and intellectual concepts is a story that is sickeningly awful and poorly planned out. I'm sure in science when you're the only one who understands what's going on while most of everyone else is confused it means they're the idiots. However, when it comes to storytelling, you're the one who's fucking up when you're the only one who understands what's going on while the majority of the people think you're speaking E.T.ese.
Monday, April 11, 2011
How to Help Those Who Aren't Quite as Bright and Optimistic.
Yech. Don't you just hate people who are always so negative? They go around minding their own business until you ask them how there day is and they respond with something along the lines of "it's been shitty." Oh but you, being the bright-eyed idealist wearing rose-colored sunglasses that are also wearing rose-colored sunglasses are not gonna have this. So what's the best way to curbstomp this person's negative attitude that might otherwise be apart of who they are? Just follow these three easy steps, and you will be completely successful.
Step one: Show no sympathy. I mean come on, every day is a day to seize the carpe, or day, or whatever, especially for you, so bugger to all those who you go up to and ask them yourself to see how shitty their day is, and then reprimand them vehemently for doing so (I mean seriously, you went through all that trouble to go up and ask them how their day is and they ungratefully reply by saying their's sucks??? UNACCEPTABLE!) Which brings us to the next step.
Step two: Blame all the negativity on them for being such angsty cunts. So what if their close relatives died/everything they owned was burned in a housefire/they're just miserable failures at everything in life? It's clearly all their fault for not being able to recognize how beautiful life itself is, especially since it allows you to come up at them with your double rainbows and butterflies so you can try shoving your life's philosophy down their sorry gullets.
Step three: Don't give a fuck what they think, or what other people might think in general. Just because humans are social creatures doesn't mean we should have regard for one another, right? Of course we don't, and I don't need to elaborate on this because I know I'm right. You can say whatever the hell you want, but I won't care. I don't need to respect anybody else or their thoughts because the only person who deserves respect is myself!
And believe me, I would know all this. After all, I'm the one with TWO rose tinted sunglasses obstructing my line of sight, so everything I see is definitely the unvarnished truth.
Step one: Show no sympathy. I mean come on, every day is a day to seize the carpe, or day, or whatever, especially for you, so bugger to all those who you go up to and ask them yourself to see how shitty their day is, and then reprimand them vehemently for doing so (I mean seriously, you went through all that trouble to go up and ask them how their day is and they ungratefully reply by saying their's sucks??? UNACCEPTABLE!) Which brings us to the next step.
Step two: Blame all the negativity on them for being such angsty cunts. So what if their close relatives died/everything they owned was burned in a housefire/they're just miserable failures at everything in life? It's clearly all their fault for not being able to recognize how beautiful life itself is, especially since it allows you to come up at them with your double rainbows and butterflies so you can try shoving your life's philosophy down their sorry gullets.
Step three: Don't give a fuck what they think, or what other people might think in general. Just because humans are social creatures doesn't mean we should have regard for one another, right? Of course we don't, and I don't need to elaborate on this because I know I'm right. You can say whatever the hell you want, but I won't care. I don't need to respect anybody else or their thoughts because the only person who deserves respect is myself!
And believe me, I would know all this. After all, I'm the one with TWO rose tinted sunglasses obstructing my line of sight, so everything I see is definitely the unvarnished truth.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Getting back up
Right then. I'm starting a new blog on account that the last one was just stinking in the back of my conscience. At least this one will have the balls to stink right in my face.
... I probably could've left that out and none would've been the wiser. Eh, the more you know, I suppose.
... I probably could've left that out and none would've been the wiser. Eh, the more you know, I suppose.
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