Memoirs of the Angst-Bitch

Robert Gibbs, sometimes I wonder... But not quite as much as I wonder about Rangel.

So I've been reading about the Net Neutrality jazz and while I fully understand the concerns with it and find them legitimate and compelling, I must admit I have limited pity for those who worry the new argument means they'll have to pay extra to access popular sites on their mobile devices. What, no YouTube screening while standing in the grocery line? No Jersey Shore clips while at the bus stop? No playing Farmville at work? Your life is truly hard. :( This reminds me of the people who come to my office and ask if I have a smart phone recharger. Yeahhhh.

/end rant about overly expensive technology

In other news, I finally have a functioning BlueTooth so yay.

Someone at the WaPo described Emmett Till as a "civil rights activist" in an article today before changing it. I think that statement speaks for itself.

Random news links of the day:

In the wake of the JetBlue pilot we all want to be sometimes, have another example of a bold exit strategy and another reference to Farmville!"

Sharron Angle, aka lady who says gays shouldn't be allowed to adopt, accepts donations from gay-friendly companies.

Poor doggies. ;;

I am full of good feelings and bad feelings. Among the bad feelings is me feeling like an absolute brain-dead moron for not realizing we had a storm yesterday. A storm strong enough to kill people and wipe out a large chunk of power. I think I reached the Seventh Level of Hell today when I had to drive through 10 non-functioning traffic lights on one of the busiest streets in the city just to learn my work had no power and I had to turn around and drive back through those 10 non-functioning lights to go to my other location. Yeah, not a great start for my day.

I'm also annoyed that The Avengers cast only includes that bimbo ScarJo as Black Widow and no other females. I have no other complaints with the cast, but that annoys me because I hated that character in Ironman 2. To add to my financial woes before Otakon, I think the undercarriage on my truck is falling off and I have no time to fix it before the con. I have no idea what I will do.

My major pet peeve of the day, though, is the stupid people who are blaming The Washington Post's expose on over-spending on the private industry side of National Security for The New York Times deciding to run with all of the classified war reports that talk smack about Pakistan and basically make us look like we've got real problems in the war, not that that wasn't already known. I don't understand why people can't tell the difference between archiving public information into a single database and leaking classified WAR PERTINENT information. I'm all for power of the press, but Wikileaks just makes me feel slimy.

Good news is I have been enjoying "The Way of Shadows" -- yes Graham, I like the boy-whore shut up -- which also was featured in the background of Lord Kat's (Until We Win) recent reviews. That amused me. I still have real problems relating to either Kylar or Durzo, but I am still loving Logan (yes, Graham, I am slashing them shut up) and am partially intrigued by the whole mystery of Kylar's power. Though, this book does have some creepy fascination with trying to be as disturbing as possible. Did we really need a guy who shoots peasants and feeds them to other people? I think my other favorite character is the queen of the brothels. She's awesome. I can tell I'm going to despise the insipid love story.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes of Legend made me sad by giving me hot long-haired Ryner since I know from the OP that he will cut his hair. I did enjoy that fight between him and the sword-fighter girl though. I think Ryner is growing on me. Sion is still the fave though.

Otakon has also reminded me that I miss fangirling something like crazy. The con just has less meaning for me if I don't have a series to spend ridiculous amounts of money on and run around from panel to panel or signing to signing (Wolf's Rain, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Geass). I'm too old for it, but boy do I love it. Call my old anime obsessions whatever you'd like but they sure made me happy. I need something of equal awesome.

Do you like National Security? Do like knowing what your government is doing with your money? Do you enjoy having your mind BLOWN by the reality of this answer? Then 'Top Secret America' is for you.

Seriously, the sheer scope of this project is amazing on every level and the revelations are even more stunning. I love this stuff! Warning, this is long, complex and demands your attention to take it all in. But if you care anything about what's involved in keeping our country safe, you should read it. The writer is well-known and worked on the expose about the horrible condition of the Walter Reed military hospitals several years ago.

I am reading "The Way of Shadows" upon insistence by Graham. So far, I like. The characters are interesting and the world-building doesn't make me want to pick up any ice picks. My one complaint is that the book is LONG. Thankfully, it reads fairly fast and seems to have gotten some good reviews when it first came out.

My power went out last night for three hours and I was stuck with roomie, who thought my decision to watch "The Road to El Dorado" on her laptop was her invitation to tell me all about her romantic life. And cry about it. Why god why?

( Pick up my lovely writing meme again. )

I spent the better part of my drive home following a truck that had "NIP" as its license plate and contemplating what that could possibly mean and what it said about the driver. They also had a FMA alchemy symbol so I'm a bit stumped.

I want to either go to the Capitol Fringe Festival this weekend or check out that Normal Rockwell exhibit at the American History Museum. Not sure which will win out.

I learned more today about LeBron James than I ever wanted to know, and it's entirely my fault. Speaking of rants, what's all this fuss about Wonder Woman's new look? It seems decent to me. Yeah, it's not Amazon-ish so I guess you could say it doesn't exactly relate to her roots, but it doesn't look bad. Then again, I never had too much trouble with the X-Men movies ditching the stupid uniforms for the black ones. I was also recommended the Kevin Smith Batman comic and told the Joker seems more gay. What's the usual opinion on this thing?

Your poliquote of the week:

"I think it would be fine if the school wanted to allow the gay students attend a separate prom, they just can't call it a prom. Maybe a "civil formal social gathering". If they call it a prom, then that erodes the sanctity of proms."

"That's right. If we allow them to go to the prom, then what's next? Some guy will want to take an alligator as his date, and then the school halls will be filled with satan-worshipping necrophiliacs. It can't be allowed!"

Genius!

( 30 Days of Writing Meme )

11. Who is your favorite character to write? Least favorite?

RP-wise: Lelouch is the fave. Duh. Least favorite is Eddie but only because his voice is HARD. I still love you, Eddie.

Fiction-wise: Dominic wins hands-down as favorite. He's a nice challenge because he's one of those characters that very rarely says what he's thinking. Unless he's pissed at someone and then he spares no words. Dominic is also fun because he is one big mess of layers that shift, depending on who he's talking to and what's going on. Sometimes he may be an outright bastard, sometimes he may be gentle and sometimes he may be completely innocent. His voice is also fun in that it's very direct and authoritative. Dominic does not take shit, and you better damn well do what he says. Plus, Dominic has Wolf, which is also fun to write, especially when he's fighting and bloody. I can always find an excuse to get Dominic bloody.

As far as least favorite, it's a toss-up between Ty and Angelique. Ty is hard because he's more of a plot point than an actual character, despite all of the important characteristics I've given him. He's also fickle and too nice. I also worry he comes off too gay. He is just not well incorporated into the story so I never quite no what to do with him. I have written at length about my issues with Angelique, which can mostly be summarized by saying I find her boring. I have no idea what her character is, she's too cliched and her voice is pure murder on me since it's supposed to be all New Agey and I fail at that. Both need severe revision.

So it's let's be angry on the Internet day. That's cool because I sure have something to be angry about. Like I said, I'm not going to comment on the McChrystal affair because what's done is done but what I am going to comment on is the utter ignorance people have toward basic journalism. I really believe there should be a journalistic literacy course in school the same way they are trying to institute financial literacy so that people know what to expect from a journalist. People who are blaming Rolling Stone for what happened to McChrystal don't understand journalism in the least. They also didn't read the article.

Anyone who did could see the reason Hastings wrote it was to present the Afganistan situation to a country that has largely forgotten about it. This is why he said he wasn't expecting a major blowup. Because he didn't think anyone would notice something written about the Afganistan war. Accusing Hastings of being responsible for McChrystal losing his job is insane. It is a journalist's job to report, and yes, Rolling Stone for all its Lady Gaga coverage does count as a journalistic publication. If people don't like the message, TOUGH SHIT. People saying that Hastings took remarks off record are also being ridiculous. I will accept that not everyone knows the concept of off-the-record and when to request something be taken off record and whether that request will even be honored or whether it has to be. But someone in that position knows. McChrystal has not made any comment expressing that statements were taken off the record.

Yes, a journalist is going to get in close with their subject. That's how a journalist gets the real story instead of a polished front someone puts on when they're being briefly interviewed. This is the idea behind long form journalism, which usually takes weeks and weeks of research. There is nothing wrong with this. If people don't want to be reported, don't agree to let a journalist into your war room after he/she has informed you that he/she is a journalist. It's that simple. You talk to a journalist, it's on the record unless you say otherwise. All journalists can do is ask people to tell them things; they have no way to extract it otherwise. Just an unspoken agreement that the person will tell their story and the journalist will report it. This is what separates them from fake journalists like the paparazzi. Be pissed at what happened, but don't you dare blame a journalist for doing his job!

I'm also unsure of what to think about the "Lavender" reporter who infiltrated a group for men struggling with same sex attraction under a guise so it could publicly out the priest attending it. Said priest has been a frequent attacker of homosexuality. While I understand Lavender's intentions of showing the priest's hypocrisy, I must question lying to get into a private support group where people are discussing personal issues. I have this belief that stooping to the level of the other side never results in a solution. It just makes us look worse in the eyes of those we are trying to convince. Yes, I know hard-core bigots are never going to be changed, but there are always the undecided. They are the ones who have the most pull, and they are the people who are often critical of stunts like this.

In other news, Celebritology tells me Robert Pattinson is distantly related to Vlad the Impaler. Who knew?

So "Alpha and Omega" is the new animated wolf feature due out. Unfortunately, it looks incredibly unfunny and commits one of the faux pas of wolf drawing. This was the same thing I constantly criticized the Wolf's Rain manga for: making wolves look like horses. Let's do some comparison via animated wolves, shall we?

Wolf via Wolf's Rain by BONES.

Wolf via Balto by Amblimation aka proto-Dreamworks.

Wolves via Beauty and the Beast by Disney.

Compare with our newest entrant: Wolf via Alpha and Omega by Crest Animation. Now I'm guessing that anyone who saw Toy Story 3 this weekend probably saw this trailer but just in case: Alpha and Omega Trailer.

I love wolf movies and pine for them the way others pine for dragons/vampires so I am a bit bummed that this trailer does not at all make me want to see the movie. It might still be good, but that animation is going to irk the hell out of me. They look like horses! Hell, one of them even looks like a sheep.

Ok, enough ranting. Have an amusing satire on the "homosexuality is against the bible" meme.

( This post is already too long so I have to put this under a cut. )

Maybe I'll do fun music video links later.

So we're calling candidates from our own party (and the president) rag-heads now, are we?

Anyway, as I figured the "Zero" novel has pissed me off. Its characterization of Lelouch is manic. But I can't really blame the book since it's trying to rationalize the thought process of a psychopath. See, I don't try to rationalize exactly why Lelouch does what he does. I'll rationalize the larger picture he sees and sometimes his goals but rarely the exact why. This is for one main reason, other than it is infuriating to put that many thoughts at once into words, LELOUCH IS CRAZY. You can't really nail down why they do what they do because their perspective is skewed.

So I have issues with "Zero" saying at first Lelouch wants to stop Euphie because of her... charisma? (yeah I don't even know) that he could never command (except that he does as both Zero and as emperor before things go bad.) Then the book tries to argue that Lelouch worries that living in Utopia would make him forget all the bad things he's focused on forever, rendering them meaningless? Uh what? Then apparently Euphie makes this all better by being sweet and innocent and healing Lelouch's heart or some bullshit like that. It's complete and utter contradictions.

The only thing I liked was the justification that Lelouch did his whole 'use Euphie's death' bit and 'use whatever I can (including Darlton)' bit because he was trying to convince himself that Euphie's geassed actions had been his plan all along, his wave of staving back his immediate breakdown, which would have left him useless. That was nice. But yeah, I thought it was indicated Lelouch got pissed at Euphie for being idealistic plus endangering Nunnally by turning everyone against Zero and therefore ruining his hopes of a safe Britannia for her. I thought he changed his mind because Euphie said she was doing it FOR Nunnally. The anime always implied that everything about this event hinged on Nunnally. The charisma stuff made no damn sense and just made Lelouch read like even more of a douche than he already is.

And don't even get me started on the random simplification of Suzaku and the "pure wonderful light" that is Euphie to him...

I don't know. The ending to Deadly Premonition left me a bit... unsatisfied. ( I guess I can do the spoiler cut. )

And now, excerpts from the new Republican site devoted to gathering political solutions from the people:

- "A 'teacher' told my child in class that dolphins were mammals and not fish! And the same thing about whales! We need TRADITIONAL VALUES in all areas of education. If it swims in the water, it is a FISH. Period! End of Story."
-"End Child Labor Laws... We coddle children too much. They need to spend their youth in the factories."
AND MY FAVORITE
-"BP is creating a new race of faster dolphins. These fish are unable to compete against the fish of other countries, but now their increased lubrication will allow them to fly through the water. Faster fish = good."

Doctor told me I'm 10 pounds overweight. I think if I told other people the doctor said that, they'd punch me in the face. But at least my cholesterol is good.

I started up "Black Powder War" and I think the overall tedium of the style is really starting to grate on me. I love whenever Temeraire is around or when Laurence has the interesting characters around him, but damn I wish I didn't wish Laurence himself wasn't so mind-numbingly DULL. I also wish I could just read the dialogue parts and skim the narration. It would save me so much time. I need books that provide a faster read. I am simply not patient. That said, I persist solely because I really love Temeraire.

I read about some political journalists who are in a tizzy because the "Precious" star wouldn't let them interrupt her conversation with someone else and wouldn't let the MSBNC guy take pictures with them. She also replied to someone telling her that her performance was "incandescent" with "I guess I should say thanks." Honestly, I would have said the same thing. How the hell do you respond to something that flowery? I don't think this actress is a diva; I think the journalists are suffering massive entitlement issues because they got snubbed by the star they've spent news pages fawning over. That they had the lack of class to write about this incident in the newspaper is even more wrong.

Man, I am bored today. I need to decide if I want to see "Iron Man 2" this weekend. I've heard it's not as good as the first one, but it's still much fun.

I have also had it up to here with people and their PC issues. I can't believe the NRA is trying to argue against keeping people on the terrorist watch list from buying a gun.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Stephen Hawking believes aliens exist and THEY'RE GOING TO KILL US ALL!!

Also, we assume this lawmaker is working on some warped gay noir novel or that he's just that special. Read and witness the insanity.

Still loving "Gods Behaving Badly." The humans aren't as annoying as I'd thought they be and are even a bit cute in their fail way. But yes, the best thing is definitely the true-to-form portrayal of the gods. Apollo's conversation with Alice after she rejected him was just... wow. But hey, the gods always were bastards in the Greek pantheon. I think my one complaint is while I love the characterization of Artemis, I feel that her leadership is more of an Athena role and instead Athena has been reduced to practically nonexistent. I assume this is because Apollo is also in a lead position and the author wanted to focus on their dichotomy. But it wouldn't hurt to have more Athena.

I broke down and downloaded "Lion," the sequel to "Wolf." Not only does this game not come with a tutorial but it is HARD. It's also realistic in that a lion's chance of success in a hunt is probably a lot smaller than a wolf's. You really have to strategize how to sneak up on prey and plan your lunge and chase so that a sudden turn or rock/tree won't slow you up. It's also harder to figure out where prey/water is in relation to your animal since you just get an amorphous map with icons to represent the prey's proximity to you rather than a number indicating how many screen away it is as with "Wolf." But I do love how you can speed up time 8 days at a time so long as your lion is in full health and also how you can switch between lions when you get one hurt by doing something stupid. I still haven't figured out how to have cubs, but mating seems to be easier than in "Wolf." A huge flaw though is the 5 to 10 minutes it can take to load the actual game. Might as well pick up a snack once you click on your saved file. "Wolf" is still the superior game in terms of enjoyable gameplay, but "Lion" definitely captures the realism of lion life, down to the need for frequent rests. Lions rest about 20 hours each day. Lazy bastards.

ETA: I just saw someone suggest NA CG casting of Orlando Bloom for Guilford and Kate Beckinsdale for Cornelia. I think my soul died a bit. :(