enSue’s Neighborhood

United States Constitution, Bill of Rights, First Amendment:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
tl;dr version: Everyone has the right to their own opinion.

Posting on the Internet is the modern day equivalent of standing on a soap box in a busy park and speaking your mind. Whether or not people walk by or stop and pay attention to you is based on what that person wants to do. Let's say you stop and listen. What do you think of their opinion? Agreeing or disagreeing is your own concern, and you know what? It's your right to voice your own opinion on the matter too.

But let's say that what was said offended you. You don't like what they said. Fine, it happens. Those words struck you in a way to form a strong opinion. You want to say something, hell, you want to DO something! Before you take a step forward and hit/yell at the speaker, take a step back and take a look around. How many people is this person addressing? If it is just you and the speaker in a room, then sure, the speaker is talking directly to YOU so any offense you may take is moderately justified. But what if it's a post or an e-mail to many people? If it's on the Internet, and as long as it's not a DIRECT 1 person to 1 person e-mail or your name is mentioned, I'm sorry to crush your ego, but the speaker was probably not directly talking to you. I'm sorry? Much of the topic resonates with what you do? Did the speaker say “I don't like it when people do X" and you think “WAIT A MINUTE! I DO X!" Then perhaps you are one of the people the message is directed to... but you aren't the only one. Hell, even if the message is directed in your direction, it's pretty self centered to think that the finger is pointing at you and you alone.

You have your opinion, and the speaker has theirs. That's everyone's right. You can pull that person aside later and say YOUR side, that's also your right, and the speaker has the right to ignore what you said (which is a little rude, but when you have many people talking to you, it can be hard to address each person directly), respond to what you said, or maybe even think about what you said and adjust their opinions (but that is not guaranteed, nor should anyone ever think it is).

But back to the main event. Let's say that YOU think the speaker (who is talking to whoever will stop and listen) think that the speaker is talking to you. Let's say everything resonated with what you do, or maybe you think that it's close enough. And since this is the Internet and not the real world, I'll use the vernacular of the medium instead of any “Real World" words. If YOU get angry at an opinion of someone on the Internet enough that it makes you want to take action, congratulations, you are butthurt. Not familiar with the phrase? Let me pull up the second most useful Internet reference guide: Encyclopedia Dramatica. (full text here, but be warned: This is pure, undistilled internet after this link. http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Butthurt)
To put it in a polite way, it's what happens when your feelings get hurt over the internet, usually because someone said something that you don't agree with, and in this case, you let your feelings get hurt because someone voiced their opinions.

Hey, it happens, you are butthurt over what someone said. Now what? Respond? Sure. Respond with thought and not just a rant saying that everything you said is wrong? CONGRATULATIONS! You are an adult!

Wait, that's the opposite of what you did? Oh boy, this is the internet... what you said is permanent. You... you didn't do anything MORE drastic, did you? ... you did, didn't you? Please tell me that you didn't contact other people who know the speaker and tried to get them over to your side just because the speaker voiced an opinion? Oh no. That's not good. Wait. Why am I suddenly reminded of junior high and cliques? Sigh. Well, it happens. At least you didn't try and scrub all contact with the speaker, right? Hold on, you did? Ok... let me just use little kid speak to describe what you just did: I don't like what you said, I won't be your friend anymore!
Wow. When was the last time you said that? When you were, what, 6? 7? Maybe, I dunno, you need a time out or something? I dunno, I've never treated someone who could drive like that.

Now with that out of the way...
My wife is intelligent and opinionated. That is her way. When she voices her opinions, she thinks it through before she opens her mouth or presses that big SUBMIT POST button. Now, before you get butthurt, look at the size of the audience it was sent to: Are you the only one in the TO/CC field of the e-mail (ok, maybe everyone was BCC'ed for privacy)? If on Facebook, are you the only person on my wife's friend list? No. No in pretty much every case.

Going even more specific, THE POST that spurred this was directed at around 50 people. The wife and I both play Facebook games, and one of the problems with these games is that you need a lot of friends to play them, some of them actually REQUIRE you to have a certain number of friends in the game to level up/run certain missions/get rewards/whatever. So we've both had to friend a lot of people, and I refer to these people as Pokémon (as in “Gotta friend them all!") It's stupid, yes, but some people thought it would be a good idea. I am not a marketing person or a developer for one of these games, so I can't do anything about that. Now, lately some of these Pokémon have been saying that they get no gifts, hence my wife's post about “You gotta reciprocate gifts to get more gifts!" Looking it the post and knowing my wife, she thought it through and tried to word it so as few feelings would be hurt, but being the internet, some people's feelings were hurt (and if you think this applies to you... it probably does in this case).

Now, here's my take on it: Get over it and yourself.

Blunt, yes. Effective? Yes.

If you have a problem with what my wife said, fine, that's (as the phrase goes) your problem. Not her's, since she was simply voicing an opinion rather than keeping it inside, and absolutely not mine because we are both independent people. We agree on some things and disagree on others, but in the end, we work together. This also means that if you try and bring it up to me, whether in real life or on the internet, I'll likely say that it's not my problem/concern and you should take it up with her. I may not argue or defend her opinion, but I'll damn well defend her right to voice that opinion. Don't think she has the right to say her opinion? Sorry, but you are flat out wrong. That's not just my opinion, but that's a friggin law. Hell, it's more than that, it's one of the founding principles of this country! So if you are butthurt by my wife's free speech, WELCOME TO AMERICA! It's as much her right to speak as it is yours to form an opinion of it.

Now get over yourself, grow up and act like an adult.

"We live in a society exquisitely dependant on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science or technology" - Carl Sagan

Very true.

(this should have been posted 3 months ago)

I've started to play a few Facebook games, Star Conquest and War Machine, and so far I've liked them. With Star Conquest, PvP is for the most part optional, as is adding friends. If you add friends, you can research faster, build faster and fight harder, but totally optional, so I haven't added friends just for that.

War Machine on the other hand...

In War Machine, there are 4 ways that friends help you:
For every 5 friends you have in your Alliance (friends who play the game), you can bring in another unit into battle.
When a friend gets promoted, there's a chance you get a token, which are used to optional upgrades.
You can have friends support you in single player battles to give them tokens too.
There are missions that you NEED a certain number of allies to even do the mission.

The fourth one crosses a line for me.

I am not a eFriend whore. I have friends, family, and a few other cool people on my list who can read my posts, and that's it. No more. I never added people to my friends list because I was OMFG U R KEWL! ADD ME SO I CAN COLLECT THEM ALL! And now here's a game where if I want to keep playing it, I have to basically spam ADD ME! ADD ME! to even complete what should be single player missions, and in fact, you have to do them alone anyway (Unless you ask for support, which is optional).

Sure, sure, Facebook is all about social media whoring, but for me, I use my social media as more of a journal, a way to get my thoughts out. Hell, most of my stuff is protected so only a few people can see them. If I wanted the world to see what I type, I would make everything public and friend the world... but I don't. If there is a post I don't mind others seeing, I allow public viewing (like this one). I DON'T want to have to go through every friend on my Facebook and set what messages I want and don't want them seeing (or however the hell it works).

Yes, there are ways around it. I could pay $1.50 per alliance member (there is an option to buy mercenaries), but that means I basically I need to pay money this game just to satisfy my desire for privacy. No thank you.

It's July 30th, 2009 and I am watching Watchmen for the second time.

Now it's 1999, and Coyote is telling me about the comic book in one of the first times I met him.

It's 2009, and I am seeing the scene that he told me about.

2008, and I am reading the comic book for the first time.

May 2009, I am sharing the movie with my wife, my ears hurting due to the loud music.

July 30th again, and I am writing a post, realizing that while I may try, I can not write without a linear path.

Inspired by conspiracy theorists and this post: For Once and For All: Obama in NOT a Socialist

Ok, maybe just MAYBE I am a socialist, or at least a social democrat. I fail to see the problem with the government taking over or at least helping companies and massive undertakings like health care. Let's face it, with some things, capitalism just plain sucks. Oh sure, medical supply companies are making a fortune, but with all the requirements for health insurance, malpractice insurance and everything in the health bureaucracy, it's just not working.

So what EXACTLY is wrong with the government stepping in and saying that X procedure should cost Y dollars? What's wrong with government managing things so doctors DON'T have to have millions in malpractice insurance to cover the possibility of something not going 100% as planned? What's wrong with making sure everyone can get treated and NOT have a $6000 fee if you have to go to the ER for an emergency?

Sicko may not be 100% accurate, 100% socialism may not be the best way, but damn it, what we have right now DOES NOT WORK!

Having an accident should NOT set you back so much that you are in debt for thousands! Having an allergic reaction should NOT cost $3000. And for the love of Mike, HAVING A BABY SHOULD NOT COST $10K JUST TO BE IN A FANCY HOTEL ROOM FOR A FEW DAYS!

Are you interested in intergalactic travel? What would you hope to discover?
Presented by Intel, Sponsors of Tomorrow.

I am absolutely interested in intergalactic travel, and being a pure technology whore, I would want to discover whatever technology I can.

Replication technology? GIMMIE!

Computers and AI? CONFIRM!

FTL engines? I'll take that!

Artificial gravity? Thank you!

Weapons? OH HELLS YEA!

Now, whether or not whatever race I encounter would actually be willing to share the technology is a completely different matter. With my luck I'll see all the technology but be a slave/zoo attraction. "Look at the biped that can only process 20 amino acids!"

CNN: 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' leaked to Web

(Also, so totally thinking of this comic: LINK!)

SO the movie companies are a little worried about what people will think of this movie after seeing a rough version that was uploaded. Understandable, but not much of a concern in my opinion. If anything, if they FOX plays this right, can help. Hell, I think that FOX released this movie on purpose!

If a movie is good enough, people will go see it in the theater. If they KNOW that a movie is good, then they will go see it. Yes, the effects aren't perfect, but you know what, who cares? If the movie is good in it's current format, it will likely be better when it is released.

Now... what if it kinda sucks? THEN FOX can learn from that, take the criticism and re-edit the movie into a non-sucky format.

And don't give me any bullshit about this cutting into their revenue. The people who download it and decide not to go see it in theater weren't going to go see it in theaters anyway, don't kid yourself. Unless the movie REALLY sucks, I'll likely go see it in theaters with the wife opening week, no matter if I download it or not. It's one of those movies that I want to support. I support the movie industry. I see movies in theaters that I really like, I buy the DVDs that I really like. If I hear a movie is only ok, I may just buy the DVD or Netflix it first.

Examples:
I wanted to see Wall-E in theaters, but for various reasons, didn't. Borrowed it from Netflix... was ordered on Blu-Ray for my collection about a day later.
Iron Man/The Hulk (new one): Saw Iron Man in theater, loved it, took my wife to see Iron Man and The Hulk, we now own both on Blu-Ray.
The Matrix Movies... Had I known then what I know now, I wouldn't have seen the second one in theater and just waited for the DVD. Third, based on what I saw in the second, I waited for DVD. IF I would have downloaded #2, I would have still bought the DVD, but no, I would not have seen it in theaters.
Watchmen: Read the comic, saw the movie, tempted to download so I can re-watch until I buy the special edition Blu-Ray.

To me, reviews are meaningless. I don't care what *YOU* thought, I don't care what EXPERTS though. I only care about what *I* think.

Now... if the movie companies made instant downloads/streaming from home like a week or two after the movie came out for $10, would I do that instead of the possibility of downloading illegally? Absolutely. Would I still go see a movie I really liked in the theater? Hell yes. Would it cut down on the number of people illegally downloading movies? Most likely. I think many people want to do the right thing, but when the movie companies make it a hassle (and let's be honest, going to the movies can be a hassle), people will take the easy way out. This goes doubly for video games and music.

That's one reason I love Steam. I know of many people who would easily download a game instead of torrenting it, if the only way to get the game was in the store. It's weird, but some people don't like leaving their home and quite honestly, if you had to choose between getting something now or going out, spending gas money and taking the time to go out and do something, you would take the now method, even if it was illegal. (Ok, so not EVERYONE is like that, but enough are).

You know what I hate about the movie theater? The inability to pause. Theaters make no money off of me, because I have to make sure I don't eat or drink before or during a movie becasue damn it, I need to pause and you know why. Also, my wife and I find it quite difficult to NOT make comments to each other during a movie. It's just who we are. You make it so I can watch new releases at home with pause function? We're seeing more new movies, it's as simple as that. That movie that we wern't sure would be good so we decided to wait until it came out on Netflix DVD? Guess what? I'd pay $10 to see that at home. Fast & Furious? I might pay $10 to see that earlier instead of waiting on DVD. MAYBE the same with Crank 2. I won't see either of those in theater, but to watch now at home, I may pay $10.

Old ways of doing business, new economy and technology has changed. You don't change, you become obsolete. Embrace technology, you do well. Fight change and technology? You become irrelevant (looking at you, music companies).

Nice example: Look at broadcast TV. They kinda embrased technology. Instead of torrenting a show that you and/or TIVO missed (so damned annoying), you can go onto their site and watch the episode there with limited commercials. Would I rather do that than torrent? HELL YES. Do I do that instead? HELL YES.

Won't even make a comparison to audio CDs because honestly, I don't listen to music enough to bother and I already have the CDs that I do want to listen to (box sets with additional content, always worth it). If I want to support the artist, I'll see a concert or buy the music directly from them (and not support the music companies. Artists, yes, companies, no.)

I could compare cracking down on downloads as similar as the war on drugs, just making more criminals out of normal people and making the criminals smarter and about as effective (little if any)... oh hey!

PLUS... it didn't help that this was announced on CNN. If you don't want to have people download stuff, don't tell them that they can on the news, and don't be super stupid and tell the names of the programs needed like I have seen in the past (Seen vids on Limeware and Napster back when they were popular). 

I wonder how many posts on the interwebblogonetasphere have been made with the titles "Who watches The Watchem" or "Rorschach's Journal" in the past month.

SO we saw The Watchmen. A good adaptation in my opinion. Sure, they changed the ending a little, BUT at least it makes sense (and I will argue that giant exploding physic squid doesn't, but that's me). Glad he stuck with his guns and didn't move it to modern day with the bad guy being defeated in the end so they could make sequels *shudder*. And the prevalence of glowing blue penis wasn't too bad.

My thoughts on the movie:
Rorschach's voice reminded me of Christian Bale's Batman in The Dark Knight a little too much.
Did they need all that music? Seriously? And why not more original music?
TURN DOWN THE FRELLING VOLUME! The volume in the theater during the music was PAINFULLY loud. No clue if there was anything after the credits because we didn't want to stay due to pain. (Also, what's with YouTube today? I can't load it)
They were not very consistant with the new Silk Spectre's boob sizes, unless she always wears a padded bra.
NOT ENOUGH SMILEY FACES!
I was really hoping to hear banter between the newspaper seller and the kid reading comics.
Osmanthus (to hell with looking his name up) was made LESS evil in the movie.

And in other slightly related news, the chineese food place at the theater is decent priced and pretty good too. Nice tea!

Don't you hate when they take a decent comic and turn it into a crap movie?

Yeah, that's Wanted.

In the comic, a fraternity of Super Vilians take over the world and re-write history. In the movie, they are asassians who take their orders from a loom.

There is so much they could have done, but instead they gave us something just barely similar to the comic. Hell, even I Am Legend was more accurate to the comic. This is just an action movie that tried to make it get the publicity of a comic.

(At least I don't want to bang on the drums all day)

I am just tired of working, you know? I just want to take a few years off, tinker in my shop and more or less just enjoy life. I dunno, work just seems pointless anymore. Hell, nearly all of my money goes to paying off debt or just living expenses.

I mean, I could understand if my job was socially important, but it's not. I watch a screen all day and let someone know if a light turns red. Whoop-de-do.

I want to tinker. I want to feel fulfilled with life. (I want to win the lotto so I can afford it.)

Eh, hopefully I can at least tinker on my days off soon.