Unwanted Commentary

Watching the news is like getting the body count for the day. I know it's been beaten to death, but the news never seems to report anything good and if they do it is surrounded by the various death scenes of bigger stories. I wonder why it is I need to know that four men were killed in a head on collision yesterday on some street in Dallas. Of course it is sad and tragic, I wouldn't even begin to insinuate that it isn't, but do I really need to know about it? Am I more informed or better citizen for having this information?

The news media was coolly, sometimes hotly chastised for its coverage during the Sniper rampage. Showing the blood splattered mini van, the closed off scenes and police tape, very often reporters asking outrageously stupid and/or obvious questions, not to mention releasing unauthorized evidence. The media seemed unwilling to let this story go for very long, like so many other situations they've covered, they drained the life from every tidbit, scrap and film clip that they could. The expected troop of experts were shuffled through and gave us no end of boring drivel, from ballistics information to psychological analysis that most of us could figure out for ourselves.

So what was the purpose of it all? Information is power, but to me this kind of information and the people providing it seems to be providing a distraction on several fronts. Is the news media more of a disservice or a service?

I wonder how it all began, because one could say that the news stations are simply showing us what we want to see or you could say they started showing it to us we just got addicted to it...like visual cigarettes?

Posted by Jeff at 02:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I don't think I really have the words to express what I'm thinking and feeling right at this moment. I just finshed Ender's Shadow only a few short moments ago. While my mind is floating freely from the effects of cold weather and hot spiced wine I must say that I have at few moments in my life felt as I do now.

The ending of this book...and indeed the whole of it...has touched me in a way that I can scarcely begin to comprehend. The beauty of it all is so wonderful and amazing yet so wonderfully stirred into the tragedy of the overall event. I enjoyed Ender's Game so much, but this book touched on the humanity of the situation so well, it incorporated such true and deep emotion....that I truly don't think I can bring myself to find the words to describe it.

Like a masterful General, Mr. Card has unleashed a hellish assult on so many points that I am unabled...and willingly so...to counter against the attack.

Right now I can't go on...it really is just too much to bear...to wonderful...not since the Silmarillion have I felt this alive cerebarly. Wonderful...simply and complexitivly wonderful.

Good job Mr. Card...if I could email you I would let you know :-)

Posted by Jeff at 09:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I bought books that I probably won't read. I went to pickup pizza at the Pizza Hut last week and while it was cooking I decided to go to a nearby used bookstore.

First off I have to mention that this is one of my favorite places on earth...I'm not sure why...it might be all the flyers pinned on the walls for things I don't understand...or the chaotic nature of the store itself, with its odd shapped rooms and the bookshelves lining every possible wall...the handwritten notes for the different sections and the little sign that says not to stack books by the airconditioning vents...whatever it is, this is a great place...and the books are cheap, lets not forget that! Oddly though, while I cherish this book store, I hate it at the same time...why?...because I'm the type of person that love's books, but doesn't read them. The numerous tomes on the Civil War are silent witness to this insedious quality of my darker side.

Lately though I've been good and haven't bought any books that I wouldn't read, but on my afore mentioned pizza excursion it all broke down. I bought two books on the Crusades. I have been making every attempt to break my track record, so far it is going reasonably well...I've made good progress into the first book and I'm feeling optomistic about actually finishing it. We shall see, check back for updates!

Posted by Jeff at 08:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Interesting...I just noticed that my posts all have a -1 on the karma thing. I guess someone didn't like what I had to say, but that's fine. I never really had a clear idea about what I wanted to do with this blog, more or less I just use it now to put up ideas that pop into my head and I feel might be interesting to remember some time later.

Having gone back and read my posts, it seems that I'm a fairly negative person. Perhaps I am...perhaps...perhaps...perhaps.

But I can't be all bad, I love Shrek and Saturday morning cartoons...I'm a fan of animation in general. I love British comedies and going to plays and even musicals. I always root for the underdogs, even when playing video games, though I think this is because I've always either been the underdog or on the underdog's team.

I have a hard time writting about positive things. Maybe I should strive for that. It could be healing.

Posted by Jeff at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I found a great web site called Home of the Underdogs . It's chaulk full of really old great games that you can actually download as abandonware. I've had a grand old time looking through the listings and remanising about the good times I had playing truly entertaining software. Ah it's wonderful.

And it made me stop and realize how many inventive, challenging and imaginative games came out in the 80's and early 90's and how few have come out in the last few years. The page has a manifesto on it about scratchware and it's very insightful as to what not only the gaming industry has become, but what our entire culture and social structure has become. I know it's cliche but those were the good ol' days, a golden age of computer gaming goodness, but to be honest I don't really miss all those sessions of tweaking my AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files to get things to work right. (Well I miss them a little).

And to put forth a little more honesty, I thought they were a little rough on the industry. Some good stuff has come out lately and not only is it fun to play, but it's absolutely beautiful to look at. It would be nice if you didn't have to upgrade something every six months in order to keep playing new games, but hardware makers gotta eat too.

Posted by Jeff at 04:05 PM | Permalink

I'm really sleepy today, even the coffee is having little effect. My wife is a night person and comes awake around 9:30 or 10:00 and then proceeds to get hyper and keep me up till midnight. Then I have to get up before 7:00, which rarely happens, to get ready to come to work. By the end of the work day I'm just terribly terribly pooped.

I'm feeling very stagnant lately, at least that's what I think I'm feeling...it could be the weight gain or something else. But whatever it is I really think that it has to do with feeling like my life isn't going anywhere, but more to the point that my life doing anything is dependant on my wife finishing school. Not to say that I'm really unhappy with anything, my marriage is good and I love my wife a great deal, but I feel frustrated by my seeming inability to enforce change in several situations. Primarily credit card debit is the biggest bugbear, once my wife gets out of school and starts working we'll be able to pay them off fairly quickly, but until then it just sits there hanging over our heads and that is just plain annoying. I suppose what I need most is patience, but I wasn't bred for it...I want it now!

Posted by Jeff at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been on vacation all this week. I would use that as an excuse as to why I haven't posted much lately, but well I don't post that much anyway. I haven't much to say lately, nothing so riveting that it has stuck in my mind long enough to remember and write about by the time I got to the computer.

The week has been very nice, I haven't had a week vacation for a long, long time and the relaxation has been wonderful. We didn't do anything really, the wife and I just sort hung out around the house and took care of some chores and what-have-you...sorry to those of you with pace makers or heart problems, the shear excitement of that was probably too much.

I've had a blissful time playing Mideval: Total War all week...there is something in watching your heavily armed and armored knights plow through a formation of armed peasents that is very satisfying. Of course getting pummeled by the Islamic hordes always counteracts that...but what can you do.

Posted by Jeff at 10:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)