Self-Fulfilled

An original poem that hopefully doesn't suck.

A boy was born
Unto shining sunlight
In the realm of gleaming stars
His parents, though, forlorn,
And caught in fright,
Placed him, quickly, behind bars

For this boy, born foul and gray,
Was made of sin
And bound to sway
Toward wicked deeds
And sew dismay
Around, and in,
The realm of Pei

On occasion, folk would come to see him
The guards would shackle arm to rim
He always howled in the dark
An angry dog with an angry bark

His hair was of a golden hue
But his heart was black like rotten stew
By year three, he called his mother, “Shrew”
And his father was known as “Dirty Lou”

Covered to nail in white reeds,
He’d escaped his prison dank
He committed most atrocious deeds
To find father, whom he had to thank
For imprisonment had taught him enough
To discover whom to hate
So, he called forth his old father,
And his father took the bait

Years had passed like rain and dew
Trickling among the soy
The regal, afeared father knew
Not to meet his wicked boy
Unless he wished to die alone
Watching crows pick at his bone

He devised a crafty trap, a snare
Hoping to catch
His son like a wild bear
Tar and thatch
Were scattered here and there
Ready to be set alight, on a dare

Through storm and calm, the trappers waited
Swords sharpened, the trap was baited
But the boy dodged one and all
And, in the mist, he made to call
Ensued, there did, a mighty brawl
His thirst would soon be sated:
He hewed his dad from skull to ball
And screeched, at last elated

Julian Traas, Nov. 2009

Man vs Toddler

Very funny. The bitterness that is this life needs more moments like these.

Man Versus Toddler - Watch more Funny Videos

It has Officially Happened

http://kotaku.com/358237/mind-over-no-matter-hands+on-with-the-psychic-controller

I knew this day would come. It's an ominous indicator of our ever-approaching dystopian future.
How long before the controller.... controls us??!?!?!?

Shopping for a Cheap, Multi-Standard DVD Player

Came across this actual review for the Philips DVP 5990:

"Total lemon -- defective out of box"
by jabelar on September 7, 2008

Pros: Nothing -- didn't work enough to even try it

Cons: I got a total defective unit. It was able to start to play a movie, but then got stuck and then wouldn't open the drive tray. I tried two other commercially bought, scratch-free movies, and they wouldn't play at all -- just got stuck "loading".Summary: Just defective. Never even played one good disc long enough to try it out. Also, there was a huge spider in the box -- a real live hairy spider that came running out when I opened it. Hope it wasn't some exotic spider from China or something!"

http://reviews.cnet.com/dvd-players/philips-dvp5990-37/4864-6473_7-33004022-5.html?tag=contentBody;userReviews

I like the last bit in particular.

The New Creed

I'm very much looking forward to playing the new Assassin's Creed. There are some who say the setting, Italy in 1476, doesn't appeal to them as much as the Crusades time period.
I actually think it fits the type of game even better. The whole political intrigue thing. I, of course, really enjoyed the original AC and its storyline, but I think it will be surpassed.

And what about the nifty alterations they made to the costume? It's evolution, and rightly done. The suit still has the elements of Altair's version (the red cloth around the belt, the eagle-nosed hood) but has added frills and symbols (Italian pomp, I guess?). The symbol, if you noticed, of the clan of Assassins has become the belt buckle. Nice touch.

Which brings me to the character himself, Ezio. In this game, you follow Ezio's search for vengeance over the course of 27 years. Another touch I really like! It's kind of Count of Monte Cristo - but lots of people die all the time! :)
The developers say that vengeance, in the real world, doesn't happen overnight. I agree. I think the dragged out, life-long journey is well played here. Looking forward to it.

Check out the main website, it has some interesting stuff. Although, the load times are a bit grinding. Maybe Youtube is a better fit. Or gametrailers.

Anyway, I'll probably blather on more about this soon, but for now-

It Figures

So, I placed ad space on my blog in the hope of making a few odd cents to finance my ambitions (a romantic hope)...

And remember a while back when I spoke about Evony seemingly being a dubious and snaring trap? Well, now their advertisement is appearing on my blog.

Oh, how droll. How delightfully scrumptious.

5 Year Old Romanian Bodybuilder

Well, he has more muscle-mass than I do.

Transmorphers 2

Oh my God, this may just be the best trailer I've ever seen!!!!



I especially admire the helicopter tour stock footage they used so well. And the dialogue!

EDIT: Yes, this movie stars THE Bruce Boxleitner!

The Evony Trap

Apparently, there's some pretty insidious stuff going on with Evony (you know, that MMORTS whose ads include only great, heaving chests scantily clad in lingerie?). Especially now that there's something called iEvony coming out...

I'll let Ark's Ark explain:

http://www.arksark.org/blog/2009/07/05/evony-a-patchwork-of-stolen-parts/

One thing I didn't know was that Evony comes from China. Where they don't care too much about international copyright laws, I guess.
The effect of this: Evony's creators steal (or at least they did, up until very recently) all their avatars and in game graphics from games like Civilization and Age of Empires.

I'm a big fan of AoE. Not cool, guys.
If even half of this is true, I suggest staying away from Evony. There are plenty of free browser strategy games.

A Helpful Guide

I've only ever played a few MMORPGs, but in that time I've come across a lot of terminology I didn't understand. And it's difficult to have to keep asking the other players "Hey, what's that mean?" when you're in the middle of something.

So... a helpful guide to Online Gaming acronyms!

http://www.lagkills.com/gaming-acronyms.htm

Enjoy, lawl!

Truer Words Hath Not Been Spake

From Funny or Die (I'm sure you're all aware of them by now) - starring Will Ferrel among many others.

Here's the link in case the embedded code doesn't work (I'm having trouble with it):

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/041b5acaf5/protect-insurance-companies-psa?rel=player

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

A History of Hate

Dobbs has babbled about the 'Hispanic threat' and the lack of proof that Obama is really a Citizen of the United States. But there's so much more to him than that.

Why don't you take a look?

http://www.dropdobbs.com/a-history-of-hate/

For example, I didn't know he spread a rumor that Mexicans were bringing leprosy across the border:

On the April 14, 2005, edition of his show, Dobbs said, “The invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans.” He then introduced a report in which Romans said that “the woman in our piece [lawyer Madeline Cosman] told us that there were about 900 cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000 in the past three years. Leprosy in this country.”

“Incredible,” Dobbs replied. However, the claim was wildly inflated. According to the National Hansen’s Disease Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there were 398 U.S. cases of Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, reported between 2002 and 2004 — “the past three years” at the time Romans made her statement. Despite the fact that Romans’ original 2005 reporting on leprosy has been proven false, Dobbs has never admitted to the error on his show and indeed defended Romans’ reporting on numerous occasions.

For example, on the May 6, 2007, edition of 60 Minutes, Dobbs said of the leprosy claim, “If we reported it, it’s a fact.” Dobbs again defended his show’s leprosy reporting as recently as September 9, saying that in the original report, “we pointed out that there was leprosy rising in this country, and the reporter misstated — because the source on the story misstated — the number of years it had taken to do that. But the number — the cases — were 7,000. And we reported that.”

The Military History of France

Very funny article from www.albinoblacksheep.com

My apologies, in advance, to any of my French readers:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html

SMBC Theatre

For those of you who haven't heard of the Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal webcomic:

http://www.smbc-comics.com/

And for those of you who have, you may now graduate to SMBC Theatre.

Take, as a sampler, "Buddha's Apartment":





Very funny.

StSanders

This guy is best known, as far as I can tell, for his hilarious music video and guitar shred spoofs.
Take this one from his website, a new take on the Rolling Stones... or, Passing Stones:

http://stsanders.com/

But I also thought this Darth Vader bit was hysterical. About half way through in particular.
Check it out:

The Best Worst Fantasy Novel Covers

Done by Chris Bucholz, a Contributing Editor at Cracked, who writes the hilarious blog Robotman!

I thought his article from March 19th 2007 was really funny: http://www.cracked.com/article_14790_p2.html

So, it's an old video

Sue me!



I like it.

I don't understand though, I thought Gears of War (a 2 year old game) was $19.99 everywhere. Last time I looked it was. But it's back up to $30, $40 or even $50.

Why the fluctuating price?
Did somebody buy every single copy of the game and corner the market, or what?

I am now a dot com

I invite you to check out my gleaming, new website. Provided by yola.com, the process was simple (drag-and-drop) and you can do a surprising amount of stuff with the default styles available.
Or, like me, you can customize a bit. What's the point of having a writing/art site and not making your own banner?

There are no pesky ads thrown in, either, which is a big plus. The people who visit my site won't curse my name for having Viagra pop-ups bombard them for twelve minutes straight.
However, there is the option to integrate ads into your site using Google's AdSense.
I like the freedom of choice.

Best part? FREE!

I recommend yola.com if you want a website, don't know a programming language and don't have the time to learn one at the moment, don't want to buy an expensive program. It's easy and with a little finagling, you can do some pretty cool things.
I'm still learning myself, though.

The bones of the website are up, and now I needs to add the organs, muscle-tissue, epidermal layer... Metaphor too far?
There's even a page for The Rebirth of Rhin, in case I haven't assaulted your eyes enough with messages about that book.

But anyway, take a look: http://juliantraas.yolasite.com/

Comments are welcome and encouraged!

Experimenting with this "Widget" stuff

Apparently, now my pals on facebook and those who visit my website (once it's online) will be able to see my posts the VERY INSTANT they are created.

Just testing to see if it works, don't mind me.

Presented: Your Late Night Update

Late night shows' highlight reel, courtesy of the Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/18/best-late-night-jokes-of_n_237798.html

9

This movie looks incredible. Check out the trailer here: http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/12/23/9-movie-trailer/

Or, in HD, on Apple.com.

I saw the trailer in the theater today and thought, "Well, now we mean business!" Hadn't heard about it before today, but that doesn't mean anything.

I thoroughly enjoy most of Tim Burton's creations and Mr. Bekmambetov did a good job with Wanted. It was a weird movie, sure, but I liked it. I can see why he's involved with this project.

I think 9 going to be really, really good. Keep an eye out for it.
No excuses-- the title is easy to remember!

The Wheelman

This is a pretty funny review by Greg Miller on IGN. He really didn't enjoy the game too much.

I don't plan on buying Wheelman, though I like Vin Diesel, but I wanted to see why this game was rated so poorly.

Check it out, if you need a chuckle:

http://pc.ign.com/articles/972/972883p1.html

And, a look at the little-known but crippling FPSD (First-Person Shooter Disease):

http://video.ign.com/dor/articles/996794/landlinetv/videos/landlinetv_prt_firstperson_62209.html

I Like this Trailer-- It's Silly

John Cleese is Polytalented

Ode to Sean Hannity
by John Cleese

Aping urbanity
Oozing with vanity
Plump as a manatee
Faking humanity
Journalistic calamity
Intellectual inanity
Fox Noise insanity
You’re a profanity
Hannity

Yeah, that about sums him up.

New Look, Man!

Bear with me, the new layout needs a lot of work.

Nosgoth and the Reaver of Souls

Remember the "Legacy of Kain" series? Soul Reaver, anyone? Raziel, disgraced and tortured for a thousand years rises from the swirling, acidic bowels of the Lake of the Dead to kill his mentor and brethren.

Well, the games were favorites of mine when I was a wee lad of 12-14 and I wish Eidos would make a new one. The last one released was Legacy of Kain: Defiance, in which both Kain and Raziel were playable characters.

The plot is ridiculously well thought out, in terms of a video game, anyway. Unexpected twists abound, there's time travel, themes of redemption, betrayal and greed. And it's superb design and amazing voice acting (Simon Templeman plays the ancient and violent vampire Kain-- I suggest you Google him) provide a flavor unique in the industry.

For any fans of the series who don't yet know, here's an excellent fan-made and maintained website:

http://www.nosgoth.net/home.htm

It's got everything you could want, down to the game's dialogue in script form and concept art.

Speaking of Eidos, though, the London-based game developer has recently been bought out by none other than Square Enix, the giant responsible for Final Fantasy. We all know who they are, of course.

What this means for the LoK saga... well, I hope they don't can it. I want to revisit the vampire-infested, blood-gorged realm of Nosgoth sometime soon.

Cat in a Box

In the same spirit as yesterday's "compliment post", take a look at this video.

Cat In A Box @ Yahoo! Video

What? I can be light-hearted. Not everything I write in this blog must deal with serious issues!

Look at the kitty! =) Kitty.

Because We All Need One Sometimes

Click this link when you're feeling down:

http://ourstereo.com/compliment/

Wal-Mart Sells $138 Box of Rocks

http://videogames.yahoo.com/events/plugged-in/florida-teen-finds-rocks-in-nintendo-ds-box/1308945

Tsk, tsk, Wal-Mart. They aren't the only ones to blame, of course, but they should be a bit more cautious about this stuff.

Sadly, no!

http://www.sadlyno.com/

These guys seem to do what I do, only much better. Hard to explain, so just take a look.

Also, the price of The Rebirth of Rhin reverts to $3.99 on May 1st.
Hurry and buy a copy while it's still only $0.99:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rebirth-of-Rhin-ebook/dp/B001PTG63K/ref=cm_lmf_tit_5

The Rebirth of Rhin Deal

It's working well, so far. According to my calculations... carry the eight... my sales have septupled!

But, you can still get yours, my friend. Visit this link to buy a Kindle version of tRoR for the temporary, dementedly-low price of $0.99:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rebirth-of-Rhin-ebook/dp/B001PTG63K/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239556335&sr=8-13

You can either download the Kindle sample pages, or visit this link to check out the first chapter for free:

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/25118.The_Rebirth_of_Rhin

(The First Chapter Project went under, so I had to make other accommodations--thank you, Goodreads.com)

How, Now, Haveth Thee Stooped so Low?

If you were to browse www.amazon.com today, you might come across a whole slew of Kindle books being sold for a dollar or less. Sometimes even being given away for free.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Big name books-- for a penny or nothing at all! Wow.

I've been informed it's all because of people like me: self-published authors. With Kindle out, I can reach a much larger market than ever before.
Basically, the Big Boys, like Random House, are no longer the only players in the literary world. So, in response to my potential success (haven't got there yet, after all), these big wigs have decided to stamp me and everyone else in a similar position out like roaches.

All I can say is... Why, Random House, I didn't know you cared!
It's flattering, my friends. To think that I, little, meek, measly though I am, pose such a big, fat threat to the Literary Giants' revenue stream.

Well, to their low-priced blow, I responded in kind. For a limited time, the Rebirth of Rhin will be $0.99 (I can't afford to give them away at the moment-- I am no Tor Books).

That's right, get 'em now before I send the price sky-rocketing back to (oh my gawrsh!) $3.99.
Anyway, you save $3.

If you're in the market for that shiny new Kindle 2 (or you already have one) then now's the time to buy, buy, buy.

<--------You'll find the link to the right, as always. But here it is again, because I believe in redundancy: http://www.amazon.com/The-Rebirth-of-Rhin/dp/B001PTG63K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238020796&sr=8-2

And if you want to contact me, for whatever reason, here's my e-mail: jrtfree@yahoo.com
I always respond to mails. I'm a stand-up kind of guy, man.

Bracket of Evil

http://www.bracketofevil.com is a site that allows you to vote in multiple categories on who's destroying America the most. It's pretty fun-- you know, if you forget that these guys are doing their best to ruin the country.

And by "ruin the country" I mean: turn a profit at the expense of the wellbeing of this nation, its people, and- generally- the rest of the world.

Vote for your "favorites".

The Worst Advice You'll Ever Get

By "you", I mean "aspiring writers".

Here's an article written by Charles Hugh Smith in 2005 and, if you're trying to break into The Other Business (the original Business being film-making, of course), like I am, it's worth a read.

http://www.oftwominds.com/worst-advice.html

Mr. Smith may appear cynical at first, but the advice is genuinely valuable-- his title being a clear-cut mislabel.

The challenge he describes is certainly daunting. In his article he writes, "If you can do anything else [besides writing], do it." Well, I suppose I can do other things-- I just don't do them one tenth as well.

I can't speak for you, imaginary person floating around in my eyeball jelly. But I want to be a published writer.
I am a writer; I want to be a published writer.

I have to be a writer. It's beyond my decision or ability to defy. Making money doing what I have to do in life... now, that's a horse of a different color.

I have nothing to say

Apple-pie.

Alright. I had one thing to say.

Henceforth, this post will be known as "The Apple-Pie Post". I want to receive lots of mail about this fascinating topic.

Off-Beat Flu Remedy

I was sick all last week. I wasn't doing well at all, let's put it that way. Any more details might prove... unsavory.

But in my toxicosis, a friend told me about a way to fight cold/flu germs.
The Method goes as follows:

Take an onion, peeled, cut off the top and bottom and soak in honey. (You're doing all this inside a bowl, of course). Place another bowl on top of the one containing the onion. You've got yourself a little bowl-turtle now.

Let it all soak for at least three hours. After that, the bowl will contain some weird honey/onion-juice hybrid. Scoop this liquid up and drink til gone.
It doesn't taste bad at all (just spicey honey, really) and it worked well for me. Probably sped up my recovery by at least a day, no kidding.

Worth a try this flu-season, eh?

Would I lie to you? What do I stand to gain? I'm not a spokesperson for the Onion Company or the Birds and Bees Honey Brand, so don't worry.
Anyway, how would I enforce that and profit from it? Wow, you're quite the paranoid one, aren't you.

Just drink your damn honey-onion juice.

Philippines Nuclear Power Plant

They're trying to revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). Video!



Courtesy of Greenpeace. For more information visit: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/en/news/greenpeace-plants-tombstone-at

Media Matters

This is an article from one of the cool-minds at Media Matters for America. Check out their site at mediamatters.org

Fetishizing off-center centrism

by Jamison Foser

From the way the media have covered this week's stimulus package vote, you would think the goal of the legislation was to get Democrats and Republicans to sit together for lunch in the House cafeteria, rather than to turn around an economy in free fall.
After the House passed the stimulus package by a comfortable margin, much of the media reacted not by examining the bill's contents and the likelihood that it would provide a much-needed boost to the economy, but by focusing on the fact that it passed without a single Republican vote.
Why the GOP's unanimity in opposing the stimulus package should be surprising is anybody's guess; the last time we had a newly elected Democratic president, in 1993, congressional Republicans were unanimous in opposing his economic package, too. Then-Rep. John Kasich went so far as to promise that if Bill Clinton's plan worked, Kasich would switch parties. (It did; he didn't.) Point being: Congressional Republicans do not have a strong track record of working with Democratic presidents in recent memory. Perhaps because they were too busy trying to subpoena the White House cat.
Nonetheless, the Democrats' purported failure to get Republican support for the bill was, according to many reporters, the story.
Yesterday's edition of ABC's The Note, among the most reliable of indicators of conventional wisdom among Beltway journalists, began:
As President Obama said, there are a lot of numbers in the stimulus bill. But the number that may be remembered most of all from Wednesday's vote in the House is zero.
That's a goose egg in the first inning of bipartisanship -- at least as recorded on Obama's scorecard.
Got that? The most important thing is not what the bill will -- or won't -- do to fix the economy; it is that Obama failed to win the votes of Republican members of Congress.
Such thinking has driven media coverage of the stimulus debate for days. During White House press secretary Robert Gibbs' January 23 briefing, for example, not a single reporter asked Gibbs what modifications to the bill would render it unacceptable to President Obama. The content of the bill didn't seem to matter at all to the assembled reporters.
But Gibbs was asked this stunning question: "Would he veto a bill -- would he veto a bill if it didn't have Republican support?"
Reporters didn't want to know what policy provisions Obama believed the bill must contain -- but they did want to know if he would veto it if Republicans opposed it. They behaved as though bipartisanship is an end in and of itself, rather than a means to an end.
And there has been a lot of that lately -- stimulus coverage is but one example. Last week, Politico published "seven reasons to be skeptical of Obama's chances." Reason number five? "He rarely challenges the home team." Politico explained: "[T]here are few examples of him making decisions during the campaign or the transition that offended his own party's constituencies, or using rhetoric that challenged his [o]wn supporters to rethink assumptions or yield on a favored cause. ... This is not a good sign."
Now, Politico didn't bother to list a single example of a situation in which the merits suggested Obama should have "offended his own party's constituencies" or otherwise broken with the party. To the Politico, the merits are irrelevant -- Obama should buck his party for the sake of bucking his party. (And never mind that Obama has taken a variety of positions that have not sat well with portions of his progressive base.)
To many journalists, bucking your party -- like "centrism" and bipartisanship -- is a noble goal all by itself. But I suspect most people recognize that these things are means, not ends.
Sure, people want the politicians to stop bickering and get things done. But, more specifically, most people want the politicians to stop bickering and do things they want done. A single mother working two minimum-wage jobs to feed her kids might want politicians to come together in a spirit of bipartisanship -- but she doesn't want them to pass bipartisan legislation lowering the minimum wage; she wants a bipartisan bill raising the minimum wage. If she can't have that, I suspect she'd take a party-line minimum-wage increase, even if it means a decrease in the bonhomie at Washington cocktail parties she'll never attend.
For most people, bipartisan consensus is great -- but it is as a means of accomplishing tangible results, not a goal in and of itself. But many political reporters seem to have an ideological, if not religious, commitment to bipartisanship and centrism. But -- and here's where things get really problematic -- they don't really have any idea of where the "center" is.
A 2007 Media Matters report demonstrated that despite the near-constant insistence by members of the media that this is a conservative or "center-right" country, "Americans are progressive across a wide range of controversial issues, and they're growing more progressive all the time."
Since then, the evidence that this is a progressive nation has only increased. Democrats have won the popular vote in four of the past five presidential elections, including Barack Obama's landslide victory last November. Democrats control both houses of Congress, with the largest majority either party has enjoyed in decades. Public polling continues to show widespread support for progressive policy proposals.
And yet the news media continue to insist that America is a "center-right" nation. They offer increasingly tortured justifications for this position, like Tom Brokaw's invocation of the total land mass of counties carried by John McCain -- as if the number of rocks and trees and blades of grass in counties McCain won is more important than the number of people who preferred Obama.
The notion of America as a fundamentally conservative nation is so ingrained in the minds of our media elite that CNN's John King found himself arguing that "the electorate voted for Barack Obama but still perceives him to be a liberal. ... The last thing you want to do if you want to keep them four years from now is to alienate them with a liberal agenda." Of course, another possibility is that if the electorate voted for Barack Obama while perceiving him as a liberal, maybe the electorate is liberal, too. But that thought didn't seem to cross King's mind.
Just this week, Politico's Glenn Thrush provided another example of false media assumptions about the public's policy views. Thrush wrote that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's support for public funding for contraceptives would play into Republican efforts to portray her as a "Bay Area liberal" pursuing a "far left agenda." Just one problem: Public funding for contraceptives is really, really popular. How popular? Eighty-six percent of Americans support such funding, according to a 2005 poll conducted by a Republican polling firm. Pelosi's support for contraceptive funding doesn't make her look, as Thrush indicated, "far left" -- to the contrary, the conservatives who oppose it make up a tiny, far-right minority of Americans.
You'd think reporters would have learned a lesson from the Terri Schiavo story. When Republican politicians first decided they, not Schiavo's husband, should make decisions about medical care for the woman who had been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years, much of the media assumed that the public agreed with the GOP -- and that the matter would play to their political benefit. That wasn't true.
So when reporters and pundits clamor for "bipartisan compromise" on "moderate, centrist" solutions, they do so based on a mistaken belief about where the "center" really is -- in effect, arguing for conservative positions that they believe to be centrist. And when faced with party-line votes, they blame Democrats for not compromising enough, falsely assuming the Democrats to be the party that is further from the center.
Looking back at that press briefing by Robert Gibbs, we see examples: Gibbs was asked if Obama "need[ed] to be twisting arms of Democrats to get them to take the idea of bipartisan support more seriously" and "Democrats on the Hill don't seem to be serious about it. Is he applying pressure on them to get them into the fold here?" But he wasn't asked a single question premised on the possibility that it was the Republicans who weren't serious about bipartisanship.
After the bill passed without Republican votes, Time's Mark Halperin blasted Obama for failing to pursue "centrist compromises":
HALPERIN: The other thing he could have done -- when you say, "What could he have done?" -- you can go for centrist compromises. You can say to your own party, "Sorry, some of you liberals aren't going to like it, but I'm going to change this legislation radically to get a big centrist majority rather than an all-Democratic vote." He chose not to do that. That's the exact path that George Bush took for most of his presidency with disastrous consequences for bipartisanship and solving big problems.
This is simply nonsense. The stimulus bill included a mixture of spending and Republican-friendly tax cuts. Provisions Republicans objected to -- including that wildly popular contraceptive funding -- were dropped. Obama and the Democrats, in other words, did compromise. It was a "centrist" bill -- Mark Halperin just doesn't realize it because he has no idea where the "center" is. He seems to think for something to be "centrist," it must be supported by congressional Republicans. But congressional Republicans aren't centrists, and their policy positions don't enjoy broad support.
Meanwhile, the congressional Republicans offered their own alternative stimulus bill. It was completely -- 100 percent -- tax cuts. Nothing else.
So, to sum up: The Democrats -- who won landslide electoral victories in both 2006 and 2008 and whose policy positions enjoy broad public support -- offered a bill that included a mix of tax cuts and spending, that removed provisions the Republicans didn't like. The Republicans, having lost badly in the past two elections and enjoying about as much popularity as a kick in the head, offered a bill that consisted solely of their own priority, tax cuts.
And yet the Mark Halperins of the world blast Obama and the Democrats for not compromising enough. Absolutely incredible.
The media's insistence that Democrats, but not Republicans, must constantly make concessions in order to be "centrist" and "bipartisan" is also evident in one of the most persistent media myths in modern political history.
In 1992, anti-abortion Pennsylvania Gov. Bob Casey wanted to speak at the Democratic convention -- but he did not want to endorse the party's presidential nominee; he wanted instead to attack the party's position on abortion. Other Democrats who opposed abortion rights were allowed to speak at the convention, but Casey was not given a platform to attack his party.
Ever since, the media have repeated over and over again the falsehood that Casey was "denied" a speaking slot (as though he were entitled to one) because of his views on abortion. The fact that others who opposed abortion were given speaking slots demonstrates the falsity of this claim, and yet it is repeated over and over again.
The ubiquity of the claim is interesting even aside from its falsity. In fact, let's pretend for a moment that it's true. So what? The media continually portray the incident as evidence that the Democrats are intolerant of dissenting views and need to "moderate" themselves to reach out to "centrists."
Well, guess what? The next person given a speaking slot at the Republican National Convention for the sole purpose of speaking out against the GOP's opposition to abortion rights will be the first such person. Even if you buy the (false) claim that Casey was excluded because of intolerance of his dissenting views, the Republicans have been just as intolerant at their conventions. Yet the media haven't spent the past two decades constantly talking about the Republicans' refusal to feature a convention speaker who attacks their position on abortion.
And here's the kicker: Most Americans support abortion rights. So why is it that the Democrats have to "moderate" themselves in order to appeal to "centrists"?
It's bad enough that Beltway journalists have developed a cultlike devotion to bipartisan centrism. But the real problem is that they have no idea where the center is.

Jamison Foser is Executive Vice President at Media Matters for America.

For a Limited Time Only!

People: I have just gone completely insane and decided to give away free e-book copies of "The Rebirth of Rhin".

Yes, I've totally lost it! If you want to claim a copy, e-mail me at jrtfree@yahoo.com
Just put something like "Rebirth of Rhin" in the subject line.

Better hurry before I come to my senses and retract the offer.
I'll leave it open a week or so. Starting now.

Too good to be true? Well, there is one catch. If you have an Amazon or Barnes & Noble account I ask that you write an honest review on the product page of tRoR. That's it, though. Besides that tiny request, the copy is yours to enjoy.

Have a good one!

An Hilarious Web-Comic

It's called "Looking for Group". It's a World of Warcraft spin-off... I guess?

Normally, I don't find that kind of thing that great, but this one's (like it says in the title of this post) hilarious. It's a story in itself and pretty dang well done. Richard, the undead guy, is my favorite.

The author and artist have completed over 200 pages so far. It's definitely worth the time it takes to pry a fly from your windshield. So, go on over and see if you like!
The site even has a few animations done by the creators of the comic. I've posted one below. "Slaughter Your World, the Musical":



If that didn't impress you then nothing will! Here's the link to the webcomic:

http://lfgcomic.com/

Salute!

Nintendo Wii

Enough about politics.

Here's an article from Yahoo! about how there are so many "crappy" Wii games these days.

I own a Wii and I don't regret it. My favorites on the system include Zelda: Twilight Princess and Okami (a superb port from the PS2). I also one day want to play Super Mario Galaxy, because it looks pretty wacky and I like the idea of hopping onto asteroids.
However, Yahoo! has a point in all this. I will definitely agree that, while there are many good and great Wii games, there are many more horrible ones. Far Cry: Vengeance, for example, with its barely Nintendo 64 level graphics. And then you have the games that just don't pull off the control scheme that usually makes up for lack of stunning visuals.

(Okami and Zelda have both, though. They look great and they work great. Perfect. In fact, they're on my list of favorite games.)

Anyway, read the article:

http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/is-the-wii-failing-to-meet-its-potential-/1281752

The Wii can do better. We've seen it do better. Stop making garbage, Third Party Developers.

Announcing:

The Rebirth of Rhin is now available in E-book form for Kindle on amazon.com.

And, for now, it's 20% cheaper! That's right: $3.99! How could you not take advantage of this amazing offer, Kindle Owners?

To commemorate, I've made available a JPEG of the great cover art done by C.S. Price (my immensely talented brother).

Just follow this link and grab a copy:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Rebirth-of-Rhin/dp/B001PTG63K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232315298&sr=8-2

If you are still unsure, download the free sample available from this link.

To those of you who do buy a copy, you have my thanks and I sincerely hope you enjoy my work.

Weird Coincidence!

We all know who's taking a hike in a little over 3 days, right? Goodbye, "Dubyah"! Goodbyeeeeeeeeeee!

But what you don't know, and so I shall inform you, is that there's another really awesome thing happening in three days:

The Rebirth of Rhin will be made available on amazon.com in E-Book form. You can buy it for your Kindle machine, or for your PC!
And the best part? The list price, of course! $4.99!

"But, Julian," you ask, "what if I don't have a Kindle?"

If you don't have the funds for a Kindle at the moment, there's a free program that allows you to read the .prc file. And, because I'm so sweet, I'm providing you with the link:

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailsreader.asp

Good things come in bunches, eh? So, this month, say faretheewell to Bushy and nestle yourself in with a digital copy of The Rebirth of Rhin.

Oh, and congrats to me for my 100th post! Fitting that I'm trying to weasel money out of everyone on this momentous occasion.

To lighten the mood: 4chan.org

I recently had a chat with someone known as Dingo. He divulged the name of a website: 4chan.org.
According to Dingo, this site is quite interesting. Here are his words, unedited.
Maybe you'd care to take a look. I know I'm intrigued.

Dingo:

"Yeah... If there is one site that could be proclaimed the cesspool of the internet then 4chan.org/b is it.

When I say 'cesspool', I mean cesspool: no structure, no rules, no way of predicting what is next other than going over the collection of memes in all existence, people come up with the most gruesome of pictures too every once in a while, not a big fan of that.

Geekish, trollish sheeps spouting meme after meme trying to outwit eachother. It is a goddamn real-life social experiment. That shit is out of control.
Anarchy is what you might call it."

Wow. Profoundly disturbing stuff. I think I can speak for Mankind as a species when I say, "I weep for us."

But, the damage has been done. This behemoth of crap exists. So, I give you the link to serve you... and generate hits for my blog!

2009

Happy New Year, everyone! I wish you well in this brand new epoch.

... That is all. You may resume what you were doing.