Doubtful About Rock Band's Integrity....Much Less the Rest of America

I'm all for listening to new music, (as long as its not some incoherent rambling about why their pants won't say up), and experiencing new styles and takes on a genre. I also very much enjoy the music games Guitar Hero and Rock Band. What I can't seem to get my mind around though, is why the band No Doubt won't stop showing up on Rock Band's song network. There are literally 30+ No Doubt songs on the network now. Why? Why not some more AC/DC or Zep or Marilyn Manson or Ted Nuget? Ozzy? KISS? Metallica? A7X or Dead Kennedys? I would rather the ENTIRE discography of The Killers on there than No Doubt.

Let me just for the record state that one, I do mean all of this and two, no I am not some "depraved" or "demented" metal head that only listens to Death Metal. While I do enjoy the heaviest of Metals any day of the week, in addition to the bands above, I also listen to Motorhead, Rage, LP, Lamb of God, Slipknot, Job for a Cowboy, IWABO, as well as saxophone solos and the Classic Composers such as Beethoven and so many more. I have a very, very diverse music library full of pieces I believe further the progression of the human mind and soul as well as convey emotions that people would normally lock you up for expressing. Now that we have that out of the way.....

I don't care what anyone says, that goddamn coked-out cheerleader does not and has never played any form of rock; it is in fact in the same alley as someone like Lady Gaga, and in my brutal opinion, they both need to be put down. Invading my ear canals and kicking my eardrums in with low grade chum quality lyrics and sounds; this "pop" crap has to go. I'll be damned if anyone actually considers this popular. I've actually punched someones left front tooth out for trying to get me to listen to that "Holla Back Girl" or whatever the Hell its called. I am also sick and tired of people who aren't old enough to be potty trained crooning to me about how much they're in love and that their lives are empty without their insignificant other. Justin Bieber or Beiber or whatever your name is: STOP IT! STOP trying to create music. It sounds like a pack of hyenas getting neutered with flamethrowers. All "pop" music should be buried or burned and its creators should have their mouths sewn shut and hands cut off and they should be considered Untouchables and shunned from society with the do nothing but "party" celebrities like Paris Hilton and all the other bimbos that keep appearing on the cover of every goddamn magazine like they just cured cancer.

Is this what you want influencing you? Taking your hard earned money and years of gathered knowledge? ->

I didn't think so.

I'd wager that if this country restricted "pop" and "rap" and "Rn'B" music that crime rates would fall and people would actually have an IQ with double digits. If the "party girls" of Hollywood were all just put down instead of giving them reality shows and awards for doing what a brain dead monkey with no arms or legs could do, I figure people would actually legitimately become more in-tune with what's going on in the world. Maybe we could actually start colonizing other planets and riding the world of hunger if all those goddamn twats would donate just part of their exorbitant incomes to science and the furthering of our species. Stop shitty music from entering the brains of people and I can guarantee that you won't have another generation of Paris Hilton's or Britney Spears' or whatever-her-name-is from No Doubt or the woman who's name is actually less creative than something my 3-month-old cousin came up with yesterday.

I don't want to see your Pokerface, I refuse to stay in your "5 star" hotels, I have no interest in whatever a Holla Back Girl is, I am not in preschool so I know how to spell banana and I'm no where near wanting to have some pre-pubescent twat-waffle singing to me about the love of my life when he can't even count past his toes. I would celebrate the day that these people were shot. I would commemorate the death of shit-music and people. I'd use my life saving to build a statue to erect in every city square showing the death of pop and stupidity and the beginning of the new Renaissance.

I dunno. Maybe I'm just crazy. But the next time you turn on the radio, think twice about your station setting. The next time you're about to turn on E! or TMZ think twice about it. Rock. Discovery Channel. Easy ways to lengthen your lifespan and make you smarter than the guy on the bus who's pants are down past his ankles while bouncing around and nodding to a drunken and often coked up "artist" with no self respect or respect for others. You'd probably even become smarter than that 14-year-old girl who's stealing plastic sunglasses she can't even see out of so she can match her shirt thereby making her existance complete when the 21-year-old guy she's crushing on rapes and kills her in the back of a van with his buddies who are blasting the Jonas Brothers to attract more. Yeah. Think about it. All of this could've been avoided if Rock Band just chose better songs to list in their music store.

-Armand

I'm Literally About to Tweet History...

I want you to think about what I just said....tweet history. No, no one died or no cure for cancer. The simple act of tweeting is now considered "history". The United States Library of Congress....yeah....believes that the day to day incessant ramblings and ravings of the general population deserve to be immortalized in their normally exclusive archives.

Apparently intellectuals believe that this is a good idea as well; according to them, normal means of information conveyance have depicted people of a higher stature, or for lack of a better description, people with something at least semi-coherent and meaningful to say. But now, everyone from the noted child molester, murderers and general scum of the planet have their thoughts filtered in to the general public's; which isn't much different either. I don't know how many times I've gone into my Twitter account to check CNN's or the New York Time's headlines of the day and seen 14,000 'tweets' about someone's life sucking, too much "drama", what time the Kardashians start or that little "Tweet-king" himself, Justin Bieber (I didn't know who or what he was until I was alerted to him when I yelled "WHO THE F*** IS THIS GUY?!" in Book's-a-Million.) who is for some reason a trending topic for the last 6 months.

Apparently the Library has been doing stuff like this for a decade or so, since Web Sites began the to enter the fray as a useful and reliable source for information. The Tweets will be taking their place right by the information gathered from the Net during events such as presidential elections and the 9/11 attacks and the Library has amassed more than 167 terabytes of digital material, more than what the text of the 21 million books they've collected would equal.

This is not the material I want to be seeing when I'm excavating what's left of Washington, D.C. after the world ends. I don't see how the everyday tweets of the general (and IMO uneducated) masses are an "immense impact on culture and history." (<- That came from the director of communications for the Library if you can believe it.)

Am I the only sane person left in this country or are there other survivors of the Stup-ocalypse left out there? Calling all survivors, we must collect our own knowledge to weather the coming storm....hopefully, we will outlive the attrocities that will soon be commited and re-educate the remaining populace with actual knowledge.....knowledge that can be used to re-populate the Earth with people that aren't brain damaged at birth from the stupidity consumed by their moronic parents....

Just my take on the matter; I could be crazy and this could be the best thing to ever happen to the human race....or it could be another reason EVERY country in the world thinks we're a bunch of over-weight, uneducated hypocritical idiots. Just saying...

-Armand

DRM, You Know You Hate It

Well we're here again with, in my opinion, how companies are trying to protect their pockets and distance their customers. Let me first say that DRM stands for "Digital Rights Management" which is how the publishers (EA & Ubisoft for example) maintain control of their product once it leaves the shelves and installs it self onto your computer. Its only real purpose is to prevent you from sharing the content that you pay for; can't give it to a friend to install on their computer or can't get the game from another source by illegal means. All it really does is limit how many times you can install the game or how many different computers you can install it on or force you to connect to the internet so you authenticate your session on the game.
We all know that most digital media and pretty much all games have DRM but there are some interesting new takes on the matter that are starting to show up. EA happens to use SecuROM with severely limits the amount of times a game can be installed. A problem with that is pretty much the normal issues one might face; computer crashes, harddrive malfunctions or just uninstalling for something else. The DRM the PC gaming world is beginning to hold a grudge against is Ubisoft's take on it; for their newer games you actually have to remain connected or risk losing your game progress!

DRM is double-edged in my opinion. Good reason to have it is to prevent piracy of the content. Bad reason to have it is because of the restrictiveness of the situation; if I purchase a sandwich, it is mine to do with as I please, whether it be to shove it in my face hole or share it with a friend for the short period of time I can. It should be the same way for video games that you buy. I don't know how many times I get on the net and find pirated copies of games that are DRM protected but are nonetheless there for all pirates to enjoy. This is a swift kick in the balls for people like me who legititmately purchase my video games either online or in a store; I have the entire Command and Conquer collection as well as Age of Empires III and others, all which have known to have been pirated but I purchased as a fan and supporter of those games. And then I can't play said games offline because some guy cracked it? All my years of good service to the company counts for nothing as soon as they implement DRM like this.

-Source: Kotaku.com

My take on it is like this: Radiohead actually released "In Rainbows" with a "pay what you want" form. You could literally give them a penny for the album or even nothing at all. They made $10 million in the first week of release. People will play games if they're free or not, by lessening the restrictions, you get more players therefore more money. The amount of piracy is not yet greater than the amount of purchasers and I believe that even the pirates would stop if the companies didn't hold the software back so much. But hey, that's just what I think.

-Armand

Video Games, A Dental Cash Cow?

I'm not one who's prone to go out of my way to do anything. In fact, the less I do the better I feel at the end of the day. Most of my daily accomplishments come from my daily gaming; to which I owe my amazing hand-eye coordination and lack of money. Hell, while playing I may enjoy a Pop-Tart or if its that time, I'll have a full meal between boss battles or matches. One thing I always make time for in the morning and before I hit the hay is brushing my teeth. It may sound silly to bring up here but I assure you, this is totally serious business.

According to a study done by the University of Iowa poor oral hygiene can come from playing video games! Apparently kids and teens between the ages of 12-16 have dietary habits associated with gaming on consoles or computers and conducive to tooth decay. I'm sorry but what?! I don't know about the rest of the U.S. but I'm pretty sure that kids will eat anything if it: 1) Tastes good, 2) Is sweet, 3) They can get their hands on it or 4) Can nick it when their parents are looking. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH VIDEO GAMES!!!

I am sick and tired of gamers being singled out as the cause for school shootings or people dropping out of school, getting fat or having to get a filling. This is absolutely ridiculous. Everything that someone does isn't because of what their pasttime is! I would just as quickly grab a glass of water as I would a Capri Sun pouch and a friggin' granola bar just the same as a Pop-Tart! It just depends on what I want at that particular moment and if I'd eaten anything else that day. Everything someone does is of their own free will. If the kid is too goddamn lazy to walk to the kitchen and grab some milk rather than a Coke its their own, and the PARENT FOR BUYING IT, fault. If the parents didn't leave the kids alone to do as they please and smack 'em if they step out of line, I guarantee you'd find healthy, fit, pleasant to be around children who smile with a mouth full of pearly whites.....

People need to get their heads out of their asses and really start re-evaulating their lives before they start blaming it on a simple form of entertainment. That's my rant for the day. Goddamn studies...always pissing me off....

-Armand