I know I'm late to the Paranormal Activity party but after watching this movie I felt compelled to write about it.

This movie is not good at all.

I found a jellybean!

It's very boring and not scary at all. Some people say its creepy in its realism, I find it to be boring in its realism. Seriously, the whole movie shows these two people talking and bickering with each other. The rest of the movie shows the guy in the house proving to himself and viewers that there is an entity in the house. DUH! We are convinced there is something there, now move a long to something else. I find a door that moves slightly, pushed by some invisible thing not very scary. In fact while watching the movie, I found it odd that people sleep with the door always open. The house felt so fake to me and the movie so boring that when they would walk through the house I would look at all the photos and no where in the house were there any family pictures. Just the two of them in photos a la Myspace.

Bringing the psychic in didn't help the movie any. "Oh ders sumtin 'ere. Ain't ghost, sumtin mo' powahfull. 'tis a deman in 'ere 'ouse. Call up de buddy." Actually it would have been more entertaining if it was said in a weird accent like the witch from Pirates of the Carribbean. Instead we got a guy who apparently was scared, said he had a friend who was a Demonologist and who could handle it. Except apparently in San Diego, there is only 1 Demonologist and he was away climbing Mt. Everest or whatever other reason for not being there. PUH-lease.

The rest of the movie consisted of the guy trying to contact the demon, the girl sleepwalking and staring, and the both yelling, "what is that!" Every time the door slammed or a noise was made or whatever. Bitch! we know what it is, its a demon, kill it or die. Do something fun!

I seriously can't believe people liked this movie. I want my money back. Like seriously. There was a petition to get this movie into more theaters, I want to start a petition to be refunded money for watching such a drool film. The only Paranormal activity going on around here is how this movie made so much money. A testament to the marketing genius of the movie and not to the substance.

I give this film 1 point out of ten and give it a thousand swift kicks to the nuts out of ten.

Copyright 2008 DAP All right reserved. all other copyrights and/or trademarks are property of their respective owners.

So I was summoned for jury duty.

photo credit: ChrisMoncusPhoto.com

Feels kinda shitty, but, really, its just a boring vacation from a boring job I do anyway. So I went. So far– and we haven’t even gotten into a case or anything– I’ve found it intriguing. Right now we’re just going through jury selection, or what all the legal people call voir dire, meaning, in latin, "to see and speak the truth." And this is what piqued my interest.

90% (and i’m making that stat up) of the people summoned for jury duty do not want to do it. They find no pleasure in being part of the legal system, the most important part. Admittedly, I really don’t want to do it either but my attitude about it is one of apathy and ambivalence. I just think, lets just get it over with. Other prospective jurors, however, are actively trying to get out. I can read it in their voices, in the timing of their responses, in the extra information that the lawyers, nor the judge even asked for at that time. All I can think is, bull… shit.

I’m sure some people can’t be on a jury, their state of mind doesn’t allow them the common sense to make decisions. but the people I saw in my group were ridiculous. One laid it on thick with the racism, and though i’m sure somewhere back in his mind he is biased toward the color of his skin, he definitely knew when it was showtime. Dude, the question was about if you knew cops, not that you hate people other than your ethnicity.

And if you’re aiming to be a cop, then you should be energetic about being a juror, not say that just because you know cops and went on ride-a-longs that now you can’t be impartial. That everybody who goes against cops is guilty. I have family in law enforcement and they taught me to always be fair and impartial in matters of decisions. So to hear someone says they want to be a cop, however can be impartial scares me, and that I wouldn’t want him/her to be a cop.

Don’t be a dick, be a juror if called upon.

Copyright 2008 DAP All right reserved. all other copyrights and/or trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Ok, rant begins here because I really am disgusted about this.

So the story goes: this girl somewhat local to me at least, here in sunny SoCal gave birth to octuplets. Holy moley thats a lot of kids. Combine that with the six kids she all ready has and you can see that it will be a challenge for the mother. Those friends and family of hers say they support her and think she’s a great mother which is good, but she seriously needs the help of a psychiatrist.

The father of the girl says she didn’t intend to have eight kids, just one but when she found out she had a chance to have eight kids from the eggs in her uterus and also the chance to prune the amount, she declined and instead wanted to go to full term with all of them.

14 kids people!

She is divorced, she may or may not have a job and she lives with her parents. does that seem conducive to a proper situation for these children? Apparently she’s gone off the deep end. I blame the doctors more than anyone else. The girl is obviously sick. Her mother says she’s been obsessed with having kids since she was a teenager and couldn’t have any the old fashioned way because of "plugged up" fallopian tubes. And hey if she wanted children more power to in vitro but she isn’t even stable.

I blame the doctors because they should have refused. Her history would show 6 kids by in vitro and now she wanted even one more because of what? some sick obsession. If I were the doctors I would have told her hell no. The situation isn’t good for anybody, especially these children who may not be financially supported.

photo credit: alisdair

This girl sees these children as play-things. She needs to realize that they aren’t pokemon, you don’t collect them all. they aren’t dolls, their cries are real, their diapers fill up with real poop. And to lay insult to injury, she now says she’ll speak to the press and tell her story for two million dollars. Talk about exploitation. she may be desperate for money to take care of the children but who got herself in that mess to begin with? Oh, by the way, she also wants her own TV show on child care as she believes she is a child care expert.

photo credit: chatirygirl

I mean how seriously insane is this girl? And we as the public eat this crap up. "Ooh cutsey widdle babies, ooh eight of dem, swooper kay-oot!" Sad part is, she will probably get her two million, she will probably get her tv air time and so the exploitation shall continue at the expense of her children and other girls who would come to admire this girl because she made money from her play-things.

the world which thinks this is a good thing disgusts me. This obvious exploitation sickens me. Even her own mother is horrified by her daughter. Don’t get sucked into the tale of this mess.

 ABC News has more.

/rant

Copyright 2008 DAP All right reserved. all other copyrights and/or trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Today, President-elect Obama is President Obama. I, among the many, will be watching the festivities from home and I applaud the efforts for the momentous occasion to be enjoyed by the many who would not otherwise be able to enjoy such things; the kids, the poor.

photo credit: jurvetson

However there is one disconcerting feeling I have. It is that people feel that President Obama is the savior of America. while I believe he does represent change, too many people twist that into the second coming. Many people believe that change will happen very soon not understanding that a lot of his change will only be reflected in two to three years, not months. And, those changes may not even be a good thing if we the people just resign to challenging those in power, if we think, whatever you want Mr. President. you can do it because you represent sweeping change.

I understand that historically this presidency in huge. In two ways mostly; 1.) that this is our first black president and 2.) that we had the most young adults vote this previous election than any other election to date. But let’s break this apart and if I must be the "hater" we then so be it.

Our first president as a black man is undoubtedly historical, but let’s leave it at that. History itself will judge whether President Obama was good for the nation or not and that will only happen after everything is said and done. He isn’t our savior and for a lot of religious people that would be blasphemous anyway. The honest truth is that I’m really tired of the double standard of the race card. So many focus on the color of his skin and not much else. Those who always talked about wanting equality with everyone else now focus like a laser beam on color. Let us get past color of skin and get into character of a person. And i’m not implying that President Obama is a man of ill character. 

One reason I feel people focus so much his skin color is because it’s such a stark and drastic change. You have an older white man who was our president by all accounts doing a poor job in office. People want change, they want to get away from everything Bush. So what do they do? Well, instead of voting for the older white man who resembles Bush not in politics but in skin color and vote for the man who in stark contrast is young and black. I am without a doubt sure that many voted in this simple-minded way.

I am behind my President, I am behind Obama, but I woun’t let silly things like color of skin or voting because its cool and all the celebrities are telling me too, to get in my way of challenging the issues, to making sure that we get the best because we are in a mess right now and for a least one or two years and I will in my small way try to make it better but not by pinning my hopes on one man, on one many think to be our savior in this dire time but by coming together as a community and pursuing tough challenges.

Copyright 2008 DAP All right reserved. all other copyrights and/or trademarks are property of their respective owners.

With the death of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) a staple in the gaming space, it has left me wondering: is print dying?

I used to do a paintball magazine called Loaded. It was a great magazine but it failed for many reasons but one of the big reasons was that our readership and the paintball

photo credit: mugley

community are more inclined to read up on everything paintball related on the internet. In fact somewhat recently two paintball magazines went kaput, Paintball Sports Magazine because of a bankruptcy and Splat Magazine which really just moved to a online distribution called Splat XD

Is it becoming that most people find that the ease of the internet has them purchasing subscriptions to print publications or just purchasing a particular issue less? And with broadband internet finding its way into more and more homes can print publications compete with the rich media that the internet can provide?

I for one like to feel something in my hands. Something that now is out can’t be messed with unless its taken from me personally and destroyed, whereas on the internet someone can tell me about some great– albeit– inflammatory editorial but I have no guarantee that it’ll still be there. Once I have those words on paper, they’re there for-ev-er, for-ev-er.

what do you think? take my poll: With the death of Electronic Gaming Monthly, do you feel print publications are dying?

Copyright 2008 DAP All right reserved. all other copyrights and/or trademarks are property of their respective owners.

"Rainforests deserve, yes, our protection, but the human being … does not deserve it less"

 

Pope Benedict said that above. And I agree with him completely.

photo credit: roblisameehan

 

But not in the way he would like me to. We are all tasked with the responsibility to protect the human species. However, we must remember that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. We must always stay vigilante in our ideas as some of our best ideas can become flawed and must be thrown away.

I’ve been thinking about this subject for a few days now. I have talked about this with family, with my father. The war rages on in this debate; should gays be allowed to marry? Those who believe deeply in the word of the bible do not believe they should be able to. They believe the bible states marriage is between a man and a woman.

All people want to be treated equally and yet seen differently. Gay people have their

photo credit: rgeorgi

parades to show the world that they’re different, even when they beg to be equal. Black people had their march and I suspect that gays will cease their parades when equality is met. If that would be reality

"What about your morals? If you allow gay marriage, what else will you allow?" I’ve been asked and told. And all I can believe is that morals exist outside religion. I know there are atheist who are moral. If fact plenty of gay christians are moral I’m sure. it is said that the Catholic Church teaches that "homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are." But to me this defeats any logic because isn’t any waking moment for a homosexual person a homosexual act? Or was the Church really referring to the sexual part mostly, you know two guys packing fudge.

Regardless of your beliefs, it is easy to see the error in all this; language. The word marriage confuses all, gays and non-gays a like.

 

photo credit: Randy Son Of Robert

"A rose by any other name will still smell as sweet"

 

 

This I believe is the core of the problem. The problem of language, a human construct, imperfect and misleading. The term Civil Union is exactly what a marriage is. The problem however is in practice. Civil Unions enjoy none of the federal and state protections that a Civil Marriage receives.

What a lot of people don’t realize is the separation between the terms Civil Marriage and Religious Marriage. Instead people lump it all into one general term. Most gay people don’t care about the Religious Marriage, and why should they as its obvious that particular religion that defines their marriage being between a man and woman wouldn’t be for them anyway. But they care about the Civil Marriage. About the universal understanding. That these two people are together. And also for the governmental recognition.

The government doesn’t really belong that far into the personal lives of people anyway, and the Catholic Church and any other religion shouldn’t have their fingers in government as well.

Bottom line is: gay people aren’t looking for religious recognition, that belongs to each person individually, gay people are looking for institutional, governmental recognition. recognition that Civil Unions do not provide.

second bottomline: this goes for so much more than the gay debate; don’t let words fool you. Pull them apart. Own them.

Sources: www.yffn.org/admin/spi/marriagevsunion.html news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7797269.stm

Copyright 2008 DAP All right reserved. all other copyrights and/or trademarks are property of their respective owners.