Virtual Insanity- The Clear Within the Clutter

As most of us know, American Idol is currently in another glorious season. As most of us also know, this season has brought a lot to the stage. We have another Idol who maybe be kicked off the show for questionable material, we have an Idol who scored an amazing wife and has the best sense of humor that is completely clean which is what everyone can love, and we even have an Idol who can beatbox his way to the sun and back. Thats right, Blake Lewis has surprised us again. Last week he didn't beatbox but showed a softer side of his heart. This week Blake brought back his beatboxing and brought in some Jamiroquai. While the name is somewhat hard to pronounce he is internationally famous and has been finding it hard to take root in America. Jamiroquai has been featured on VH1 and even MTV although has never been brought out so publicly as Blake did by singing his song and adding in scat with his personality. But unfortunatly and at the same time amazingly, Chris Richardson stole the spot light with 'The Geek in Pink', and made an already good song amazing. Chris wowed me and I am sure wowed America. But back to 'Virtual Insanity', if you haven't heard of Jamiroquai until last night, download his stuff from iTunes or go behind the RIAA's back and steal some. He is a breath of fresh air to pop with amazing lyrics which really attack how we as humans can be too human. Virtual Insanity for example tell us we need to step away from the tech and get back to the rock we live on. Best of luck to all Idols still on stage.



*On a side note I have been using Performancing from Firefox to post my blog lately. I don't need to sign in on Blogger anymore to post my blogs. I click on button and start to post on a small widget on the bottom of my screen. Its awesome.

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Well Its Official

School is a huge waste of my time. I learn about -2% of what I should a day. (Yes I actually lose IQ points by sitting in classrooms and being bored for 6 hours a day.) We actually started Romeo and Juliet today. I did the part of Romeo just so I wont have to read another part again. Quick Poll: Who thinks its dumb how Shakespeare wrote so fancy even though he knew that half the people both in his time and today wouldn't be able to understand about 68.92% of what he was trying to say? Oh, thats what I thought, you all agree. While it is flowy and fancy it lacks a simplistic beauty that comes through understanding. When you can understand how to ride a bike that is the coolest thing ever. When you understand what is going on in a movie it usually makes it a tad bit better than if you didn't. If you can't understand what they are trying to say in a book, you throw it down, walk away a pick up a 360 controller. It is sad though that people do that because the story is really good and the characters are very detailed. (For example Romeo is the most emo person you could ever meet in the beginning scene of the story.) There is no denying that Shakespeare wrote his way into history and the fact that he is now practically immortal is no small achievement. On a side note thanks to an inspiration I found while looking at Mac Book Pros online, I have now changed nearly every visual aspect of my PC. New cursors, new themes, new Firefox widgets, new desktop, new icons, new desktop widgets, new boot screen, *gasp* and new log-on screen. Also I finally put the hutch on my desk so it actually looks like a peace of art. I am proud. =P

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Babbleship. TheWineKone Says It All

While I have been browsing YouTube for a few years now I have never seen anything as funny as this.



TheWineKone is my hero but certainly not my role model. But as far as I am concerned he is probably correct about Battleship. It is a huge waste of time and doesn't bring to much fun into life.

NINE12 Serves Samuel's Cafe

NINE12 served Samuel's Cafe today by re-painting their walls and cleaning out their basement. The majority of the girls stayed inside the warm cafe to paint and had a good time or so I thought from their laughter. The majority of the guys however stayed outside in the freezing weather lifting heavy boxes of tiles, supplies, and concrete and dust to tote to a dumpster. On top of all that I personally had to chisel the ice, snow, frozen leaves, and rick hard dirt off of the steps down to the basement from the outside. Now I am not sure I can move my right shoulder higher than my head. I missed the free hot chocolate to get some shots of the other volunteers sitting on the couches. Besides all the pain and lack of a chocolatey, steaming beverage, I know that what I did was right and that through this cafe maybe some other teenagers will be led to Christ. That is why as Christians, God doesn't instantly bring us up to heaven because we still have a job to finish, Matthew 28:19-20 says, "Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things watsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the the end of the world." It is our job to give them a place to learn and grow in Christ with us to help them along in their journey. Ultimately we know we go to heaven, its what we do while we are on Earth that really matters.

American Idol:1st Cuts

Well the first cuts have been made. As the unlucky four leave they have to leave singing. This has always baffled me. Why torture us with them singing if we didn't vote for them for a reason? I will have to talk Simon about that someday. But for now all I can say is... Go Blake and Chris! Blake with his sweet beatboxing and Chris with his awesome humor and the fact he choose the christian band Mutemath was by far one of my favorite Idol moments. But I can't help but feeling that everyones auditions were better than this weeks performances. For example Sundance had one of the best auditions but has been in a steep decline. I can't see him in the finals if he keeps singing this way. But everytime I look for a good performance I keep seeing the group performance with Blake and Chris with the beatboxing singing. That was the best performance I have ever seen after a few of Daughtry's performances. But America votes and America decides. The worst thing I could do now is not vote.

Snow Does Not Taste Good When Force Fed

Today was the day. VPT and other people from Vertical were off to go tubing at Willard Mountain. *Phone Rings* Hello?... Oh Willard is closed?... Oh because of the snow... Ok bye. *Phone Hangs up* So instead of tubing, we had the sickest snowball war of my life. One of the first shots landed straight in my mouth. Then of course I had to hit ppl in the head and dodge everything that came my way. Juke left then dive right and fling of a snowball with a sidearm.... *snowball flies slowmo through the air, then impacts leaving a small mound of snow on the side of someones head* BOOM HEADSHOT! it was possibly the most fun I have had in a long time. But now as American Idol is coming on in T-Minus 3 mins I must take my leave. Farewell until after Idol.

Video Games. Building Better Lives.

Many people view video games as a good waste of time and a place to have fun. Others take video games very professionally and see it as a place to challenge themselves and earn some extra money. Then there are the Chinese gold farmers on WoW, SRO, and Guild Wars who play 12 hours everyday constant grinding just to earn a living by selling virtual money for real money. The fact is video gaming has evolved from a past time to an American Tradition. Every one of my family members has played and enjoyed at least on video game. My mom like Super Mario Bros for the Super Nintendo (Yes it is as old as I am.), my sister like Mario too but also enjoys Runescape (An MMORPG from Jagex), my dad plays DoD on his PC with the 28th Infantry Division and Realism Unit, and I play CS:S with my CAL and TWL Teams and Halo 2 with my friends. (Now a lot of this makes no sense to you because you don’t know what a CAL is or what DoD is. The bottom of this article will have a reference.) No matter what game you play or how you play it, to have fun or to be competitive, you have to respect the communities that these games create. Brotherhoods are created over a forum and a Teamspeak or Ventrilo server. Individuals build self-esteem by completing quests and leveling up faster than their friends. Entire clans engage in friendly warfare over a PS3 or Xbox 360 controller for domination of a tournament or pride in a victory. NASA did a study that said that up to 90% of stress can be relieved by playing a single video games successfully. Not only are video games a good way to build friendships and relieve stress, they teach life lessons and improve reflexes. A child who played video games as a hobby and kept physically active would have a greater advantage against a mugger or rapist than a child who worked out for the same amount of time and instead of video games watched Spongebob or MTV for hours on end. Quests teach players to follow through in everything a player does in order to become a better player or person. Japan has been onto this hype but used a different outlet, anime. Anime characters teach the children to be better people and to stand up for what is right even if it costs them their lives or friends. Video games take that same outlet to an interactive level that is being shunned as a way to promote violence and apathy. Parents blame their children’s failures on the video games they allowed them to play, instead of taking responsibility for being bad parent and not setting good examples for their children. Save this cultural phenomenon from extinction by promoting video games good qualities and before you criticize pick up a controller or grab a headset and mouse and go tear it up on the virtual worlds within video games.


Definitions

WoW- World of Warcraft
SRO- Silkroad Online
MMORPG- Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game
Jagex- A programming company developing flash based games
DoD- Day of Defeat
Realism Unit- A modified game clan that supports realistic games play
CS:S- Counter Strike Source
CAL- Cyber Athletic League
TWL- Team Warfare League
Teamspeak/Ventrilo- programs that allow you to talk to other people over the internet

Star Wars: Love It or Leave It

Some seem to lose sense of the achievements of people before their time. 3000 years ago, the Greek City-State of Athens flourished with arts and philosophers. These philosophers came up with the ideas that illness was caused by nature, not the gods. 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ claimed he was the Son of God come in the flesh to save us from Hell. 1000 years ago, the Byzantine Empire retained Greek and Roman culture ultimately saving Europe from the Dark Ages. 1776 our nations founding fathers proposed to rebel against their rulers in a viscious war to free them from taxes and a cruel government. 1960's marked women and blacks civil rights movements success. 1980's, the Star Wars phenomenon swept the nation revolutionizing movie making and culture as we know it. It created a culture full of devoted fans that many shun as nerds or geeks yet also created a means of etertainment nearly everyone has taken part in or come to love. Thats right, without those nerds or geeks, without those passionate fans, where would film-making and the etertainment industry be? Its use of simplist yet creative means to inspire children and adults into shear awe at the sight of the silver screen is felt in every movie now seen in cinemas across the world. From Lord of the Rings, to Spiderman, to Shrek, the Matrix, Blackhawk Down, even a documentary like Supersize me. Where would it be today? The answer is no one knows. Its impact is so deep and wide without it, there would only be a scratch on the surface. So before anyone tries to depreciate what went down over 25 years ago in a small rented out studio in London, remember that without it, what would you be munching popcorn to?

Indoor Track and The Real World

Well although the prospect of staying in shape and making friends is appealing in sports. They have their downsides. I have obtained two concussions and a sprained ankle in just the past year of sports. While they can also seperate you from outings and fun. I have the great opportunity to go to a Sectional meet for my first year of Indoor Track at Stillwater. What is not only good about staying in shape through the now cold (finally winter has come to the Northeast) winter months, is that this the first year my high school has been large enough to host an indoor track team. Since it is our first year it is easy to hold school records. I am not complaining because I hold 2 seperate relay records for the 4x400 and 4x800 relays. But back to my complaining about Indoor Track. The great honor of going to Sectionals to represent my school is lost on the fact I will have to miss a dear friend's 15th bithday party at OuterZone Laser Tag. So it is choosing between a commitment to my team, and a commitment to my bros. Grrrrrr/Rawr.

Fixed it... *finally*

The long weekend is over and I fixed my myspace. So with nothing better to do I have made contact table codes, and started to work on aditional navbar within the profile adding links and such under the headings. Also I found a video on Youtube I was in. (look at 3:03 into it, and I say New York State, not City.)

Myspace + Proxy + School = Bad Idea

I had finally found a working proxy for my school to browse webpages with here. As with most other proxies I have tried this one did not support Java or Flash. So I used it to browse forums, access e-mails, and of course check Myspace. Knowing my school would probably ban me from use of the network for the rest of the year if they caught me in the act I always kept my hand close to the power button just in case. A teacher was coming down the row and I didn't have time to clear the proxy name from the visited list and just shut down. The teacher stood in our row for the next like 5 minutes until class ended. 'I'll just clear it on Monday', I thought to myself. I go home to find I cannot log onto my account for Myspace on any browser or with that proxy. I tried a million and a half possiblities. Then I realized that when I had shut down the PC with no precautions, my account had been frozen to that network IP. My school has the same IP address on every computer and every compter can access the main server, so in theory my account for the school is still receiving data from Myspace on the school's server even though I am not signed onto any computers. So until I can go to school and try to fix this, I may never get that myspace back forever...