On the emotional aspect of Socialism.

I am against socialism for many reasons, but one of the greatest is the emotional aspect on which it encompasses. The entire concept of taking that WHICH DOES NOT BELONG TO THOSE TAKING IT and giving it to those who feel they need it, rather than letting that person get it through charity, can work only in a world where nearly everyone agrees with this. The fact is that as human beings we have the tendancy to be very possessive, so there's inevitably someone with enough influence that will be affected that there will be a revolution. If you want proof, look at history. Every system has collapsed, more or less, because the emotional aspect of it was far too taxing, and people did not like what was happenening emotionally. You hear this mainly in the form of opression- a word that has been so overused that it now has little meaning to most. But the truth is, opression on a people can be absolutely devastating to both the economy and people of that country. Opression in general has been proven over history's word to be a generally bad thing, where people make motions against the government. Also, history has shown that people generally do not like to be controlled by government too heavily, and it's fairly obvious why, because emotionally speaking, opression and control by the government most times leads to eventual revolution. This is why emotionally speaking, the taking of people's possessions in general, which is the premise of most socialism, makes people emotionally hateful and in the minds of most people, cannot work. If you really need further proof of how corrupted socialist governments become hellholes, just look at the healthcare system of the UK, or the governmental state of France, where there are almost daily riots. My point will remain- that a socialist government emotionally cannot work.

A quote to live by.

I was reading Eragon today, when I stumbled across an interesting trinket of wisdom. In the book, it comes from the mouth of Garrow, as Eragon's close friend Roran is about to leave. The words are as follows:

"First, let no one rule your mind or body . Take special care that your thoughts remain unfettered. One may be a free man and yet be bound tighter than a slave. Give men your ear, but not your heart. Show respect for those in power, but don't follow them blindly. Judge with logic and reason, but comment not."

Garrow's speech continues: "Consider none your superior, whatever their rank or station in life. Treat all fairly or they will seek revenge. Be careful with your money. Hold fast to your beliefs and others will listen.

There was a bit on love after that, but the author of this blog does not entirely agree with it due to the superficial nature of some women these days. But other than that, certainly words to live by from the narrative of an excellent author. It's a living shame more people wouldn't heed it. So many of us are slaves to our devices, yet we feel free. What if once in a while, we decided to just completely get away from our computers and experience something different? I do it on a regular basis, I have hobbies outside computers, runescape, etc. I play piano, guitar, and I do a bit of woodcrafting now and then. It, for the time being, reminds me I myself am not a machine.

As for Garrow's other words about reasoning with those of power, I cannot agree more with them. People like Obama prove we really need to judge someone by their actions and their motivations, and not just their character. And above all I try to put logic and reason above my own vanity, though it can be difficult when you're put in a rock and a hard place. For example: I've had a few times where it was late at night and my mother forgot her keys. I was tired and didn't want to let her into her own apartment (I live on my own, but she lives in the building next to me). But I let her in, simply because I knew that she would have to face a drunk husband six blocks away and I didn't want that risk. My mother and I are close, despite the fact that she can be quite commanding.

Recently my character was put to the test when she wanted me to loan her my $1500 laptop. Well, it wasn't easily replaced, and at first I said no. It didn't help that she didn't particularly care well for her own possessions in terms of electronics. But as time wore on, I realized she needed the laptop and gave it to her. Further down the line, though, I got an older and somewhat needy cat, and the stress grew. So I knew my limit, and explained to her that I simply couldn't handle the stress involved with having one of my prized possessions in hers, AND handling the cat.

I do hope she gets her own laptop back soon though.

My new companion.

Since roughly the beginning of man himself, he has tamed beasts for companionship. They did not find their match in excellence until the cat and the dog. And now I have a domesticated feline of my own. Go check out my photobucket for pictures! I love interacting and playing with my little ball of loveliness, Jessica, and she has at least 5 years left of her. According to the contract I made with my apartment, she truly IS a companion. She is considered a service animal by law, and if anyone takes her away from me there will be hell to pay.

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack.

Well, there is much to report. For one thing, I was in a Day of Defeat: Source clan. That honeymoon lasted about two months and I moved on due to circumstances (more on that later), and I must say I met some interesting characters. The clan I was in was a part of a Realism community known as the United Warfare League (or UWFL for short). The clan was known as the 22nd Royal Regiment (we always just abbreviated it to the 22nd RR), the heritage taken from one of Canada's most elite military establishments. And we WERE the best (and I brought up the rear, I would say, though there were some relatively close to my level but just a smidge better than me). Our leader, who would not for the sake of realism claim a title higher than Lieutenant, was a man known only to us as Paulin. He was a pretty cool guy, as were most of the people I met while in that clan. If you're wondering how a person so horrible as me found his way into the best of the best, let's just say I'd met someone over Ventrilo that invited me one day. They were short a few people so they gladly accepted my application. Times came and went, and by the time I left (not bringing up the circumstances just yet), only a few of the members that were present from the start of my short stay in the unit remained. We all knew the reason why, though those reasons are rather personal and too deep to go into here. Suffice it to say that there were certain members not behaving themselves, some people wanted to move on to another unit anyway, and we had a lack of activity quite often. I did my best to keep active when I thought to do so, but usually the only person that noticed was Paulin or his second in command, Sisson (if you didn't notice the trend, we all went by our last names, with a few exceptions), who would join me for a bit of no-objective fun. Now for those of you who've played DOD:S you know that generally, the objective is to capture flags. In most realism games we were forbade from capturing those flags built into the map. Our goal was that of pure elimination, unless we were doing a force battle (more of a tactical CTF).

But enough on my experience in the virtual military. So after that, some old friends I knew from both Ventrilo and Chatango were putting together a little SA:MP server called San Fierro Role Play. It's currently a lame duck as our vigilant coder/leader DeLuca searches through 50,000+ lines of code for some simple error he must have made, at a rate of an hour or two a day. It'll be some time before we're ready to update, I reckon, so I'm currently attempting to fill the void with some roleplaying of a different kind. And DeLuca says we're now going to become a gaming community. Well, we'll see where that goes, but it WOULD potentially net us sponsorship and attention.

In the mean time, the role playing of a different sort is being done on two fronts: first off I'm finally getting around to playing The Last Remnant on my 360. With it freshly installed on the hard drive, most all of the lag issues have vanished, and it's turning out to be an interesting strategy/RPG hybrid. On the PC side of things hot off the press I have a game from the makers of the first two Diablo games, Torchlight, which I find extremely visceral, gorey (how did this thing get a teen rating?!), and amazing (and sometimes deep) experience. I acquired it for the bargain price of $20, and I have to say it's worth every penny, and they probably should've priced it closer to $30, because this game is worth far more than the asking price. It's in the style of Fate, but with skill trees like Diablo. Three characters, and each one is a blast to play with their own unique abilities.

In other news, time for the smaller stuff. I've decided that I may feed the pig just a little (but only on the cheap stuff, mostly, unless it's a DVD loaded with special features, or a CD set that's collectible). Most of the stuff I buy new from the industry is by the small fries anyway, they're really making minimal profit on a $5.00 album like Live at Budokan anyway. My wishlist grows yet longer as some great new games emerge for the console that I'll probably never play. Lately, my console staples have been Virtua Fighter 5, Forza 3, and The Last Remnant. I haven't played some of my old favorites in ages. Maybe I should boot up the 'ole N64 and play some Tony Hawk from back when Tony Hawk wasn't about money mongering and bullshit extras. I have 40 something PS2 titles and the only one I've even touched lately is Gran Turismo 4. Between the two, I have to say that Forza 3 is the better of them by far and away, but it's still fun to roar down Nurburgring in one of 721 cars, as of yet unrivaled in its scale.

Well, it's getting late, and I think I'll crash soon, but I may or may not finish the update on my life tomorrow. It all depends on how I feel about it.

Top Five Games that have Stood the Test of Time.

Ladies and gentlemen, I decided it's high time for another list. This one will be about games that are over 5 years old and I still play. So, since this list seems to require no more explanation than that, I shall commence with the list:

5. Diablo II- Fluid animations, incredibly fun gameplay, and an incredibly fun-to-play-through story make this one of the few games from the early 2000's that stands the test of time. If you haven't played Diablo II yet, it's still available in stores- the Diablo Battle Chest costs $39.99 USD. Get it and give this one a try if you don't already know its glory.

4. Star Wars: Battlefront II- This game was incredibly fun, fast-paced, and balanced. Although it technically came out in early 2005, this game is on the list because it's damn near 5 years old and I STILL play it. For its time, the graphics were slightly dated, but still, the gameplay was what kept me playing for hours on end. The insane challenge of staying alive in this game really kept you on your toes and made it truly challenging. If you've never played an FPS before, I'm not sure this game is for you. But if you're an experienced FPS player looking for polished gameplay and easy-to-pick-up-and-play, hard-to-master fun, this is the one of the best FPS's I ever played in my life.

3. Bejeweled 2 Deluxe- Yes, I still play! When Bejeweled Twist gets boring to me, this is always what I opt for. This game had an incredibly visceral soundtrack that sounded absolutely amazing, and the gameplay mechanics were improved so much from the original Bejeweled that this game is still an obvious choice for me to play. The graphics weren't exactly an eyesore, either. As you select gems, they rotate and show their full beauty as they glimmer with the slight nuances of lighting. So many easter eggs I to this day STILL haven't unlocked means this one's definitely a keeper. Bought this one back in 2004 when it came out, and boy, am I glad I did.

2. Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy- This game was simply incredible. The nuanced world made it a joy to play, and the voice acting was spot-on with what it should've been- and then some. Sony made every moment in this game either fun, challenging, or incredible as it could have been at the time. Even though I've gotten damn close, I'm ashamed to say I still haven't beaten the game. Besides the main story, there are a plethora of quests to participate in optionally, and you choose which ones are optional and which you do. This game never stayed in one place for too long, and it will always be the most welcome addition to my PS2 collection. If you've never played this game before, you're either clueless about platforming games or you don't have a PS2. If this happens to be the case, you need to play not just this, but all the Jak games (something I still haven't done) on PS2.

1. Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force- Words cannot describe the awesome. That's the first thought that comes to mind when I think of this game. Beautifully rendered (for its time) on the Quake III engine, this is probably the best looking game you'll find from 2001, and it sports an online multiplayer that is still played fairly extensively to this day, as well as an offline holomatch. If you ever get tired of facing real people, Holomatch will bring you back into the fold. The AI in this game is some of the best I've ever seen in an FPS game. On Captain difficulty, the bots can easily kick my ass all over the map. Of course, since I've been playing CS:S I've gotten a smidget better, but these bots can still quite easily match wits with me. The game's single player was fun, but multiplayer is where it really shines. It plays less like an FPS from 2001 and more like a modern arcade game. This one hasn't lost any of its glory with time. Go get it. NOW.

The Five Most Amazing Albums I've Ever Listened To

Okay, I'm going to be truthful (as if I never was before). This is a rather difficult post to write, not because of abundance of material, but because of lack of solid albums that I can listen to in their entirety a thousand times over and not get bored of. Yes, I never thought the day would come when I say this- out of the 1600 or so tracks in my music library, of the approximately 50-75 actual full albums that are by a single band, I have a real lack of albums that stand out from the crowd AND will still be listened to when I've got gray hairs on my head. But I'll try my best in this forray into the wild blue not to list any that I wouldn't be able to listen to at least 10 times in a row. I can think of only three off the top of my head, to be honest, but I'm going to delve deep into my collection to revive those long-forgotten classics, as well.

5. Phobia- Breaking Benjamin
This album comes in last on the list because it's definately the least visceral album on the list when compared to the others. But all the same, this IS one of the few albums I can listen to over and over again without getting sick of it. Why? One reason could possibly be the lyrics, but don't take my word for it, I'm not even a fanboy of BB. Another very possible reason could be that the rhythms and music as a whole carves out impeccable taste (even if in the end the entire album isn't 100% hardcore as it tries to be)

4. All the Right Reasons- Nickelback
This album is awesome. There, I said it. Nickelback was around long before the other bands on this list, and they know how to bring the goods. Canada's most badass band, without a doubt. And this album shows the kind of bliss that a good album should. I could listen to Follow You Home forever, and the rest of the album is equal parts awesome and moving.

3. City of Evil- Avenged Sevenfold
I was going to put Meteora in the number 3 spot, but I just got it, and the true test of an album is the number of plays it gets in preference. This one's gotten quite a few- and nine times out of 10 I listen to the entire thing (or as far as I can get before I'm interrupted by something). Avenged Sevenfold is an incredible band, and this album is probably the single greatest work ever produced in terms of pure solidity. So why does it only get to number three? The main reason is because some of the songs tend to linger a bit, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't listen to the whole thing a few times over.

2. Hybrid Theory- Linkin Park
Without a doubt, their greatest album. If you don't know who Linkin Park is, or have never listened to this album, and are a metal fan, you've been living under a rock your entire metal-listening life. LP brings an incredible amount of energy on this contribution, which is their greatest album, without a doubt. The first and best of its kind, this album will resonate across generations.

1. Believe- Disturbed
I've only had my copy a few months, and it's already risen to the status of being my favorite album. Oddly enough, unlike my previous favorite, Hybrid Theory, I didn't warm up to this one as soon as I listened to it. Maybe it was the mood I was in. This is the only album I've ever caught myself looping through 5 full times (which happened while playing Halo 3, and considering I've even been known to change music in the middle of a match (while getting shot at), that's no small achievement). This album has the badassness of Chuck Norris with none of the compromise. All while having nothing to do with him. This is, without a doubt- gotta say it here- the most amazing album I've ever listened to.

And that's the list. Hope you enjoyed!

The Five Best Bands/ People Leading a Band Ever

Okay, so today's post is heavily music based, and you should be aware that that was (and still would be) a tough list to write. Through my wide tastes, I've discovered a great many good artists, but I can't say as any of them really deserve a spot on the top five compared to another. A top five list may even be a bit of a farce, since numbering them and putting one band over the other really isn't my style, but I think you all deserve to know. I've decided not to number these due to the fact that any one of these bands could easily take the number one slot. So without further ado...

Disturbed- Visceral music is the name of the game here, and Disturbed delivers in spades. The tension in any one of their songs is so thick you could cut it with a knife, and in this case that's a good thing. Throughout any one of their four albums, they may let up ever so slightly, but they NEVER lose sight of the ultimate goal- shock and awe. These guys have the right idea, and so long as they keep their style they're likely to churn out four more excellent albums.

Alter Bridge- This band is incredible. Between the lyrics, the emotion, and the music, there's enough awesomeness to wrap around the Earth twice. So far they only have two albums out, but it still sounds like they have incredible tenure in the music industry (partially due to one of the band members being of former Creed fame). Watch out for them, they'll make a bang (and already have) in the music industry.

Linkin Park- My god, what to say about this excellent band? It's only some of the best music I've ever heard in my life. With every lyric, every song, every album even, Linkin Park continues to churn out incredible music (and I do mean churn) that's rough-and-tumble yet ever so incredibly visceral, and makes it all fit neatly into an amazing piece of art. Hybrid Theory had almost all of its songs turned into hits on the radio.

Pantera- It may be a matter of taste, but Pantera is quite possibly the greatest band of the 90's. They single-handedly revived the metal industry at a time when it was unpopular with Cowboys From Hell in 1991 and Vulgar Display of Power in 1992 (both of which I own; I have their entire discography, which is the only band besides Disturbed and Creed I do of). It's a brand of music all its own, and yet it still sounds incredible and awesome. Props to Dimebag Darrel for making his mark on the music industry, for which the previous three bands wouldn't exist without. Cemetary Gates is most likely one of the most moving songs I've ever heard in my life.

Ozzy Osbourne- Both as the lead singer of Black Sabbath and in his solo endeavor, Ozzy blazed circles around the rest of the competition. Ozzy wasn't the first to be awesome- The Beatles took that award many times over- but he was simply too good to be ignored. Sparking controversy wherever he went, he's most definately one of my favorite artists altogether. Three songs of EXTREMELY good caliber to note are No More Tears, Flying High Again, and Fire in the Sky. Yes, I could've said Crazy Train, but that's lost its touch due to being overused. These three never stop being emotional to me no matter how long I listen to them.

And that's my list of the five best bands/ people leading a band ever. Hope you enjoyed reading it!