Long Time No See

Assassin's Creed

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 06:29:32 GMT

I've been playing a lot of Assassin's Creed lately, taking advantage of my GameFly membership along with a copy of Mass Effect as my second rental. I'm about halfway through it and I really became interested in it as it began to pick up in story and purpose about a third into the game.

One thing that I like about it is that the setting and plot is different than most video games you come across. In this one, you are an assassin (who'da thunk it?) in the middle-east during the time period of what I want to say is the Crusades. You go around to these different cities like Jerusalem and Damascus, collecting information from people you've pick-pocketed, or conversations you've overheard, which leads to finding out the identity of the person you are tasked with killing.

It has an open feel to it similar to a GTA game but still linear enough that you're not straying from the main goal. There's no becoming a firefighter or taxi driver in this game. It's also neat that there are citizens you can save all around each city and district that will help you in some way. Some of them will allow you to blend in with the rest of the white-clad monks (the guy you play is dressed similar to certain monks, which allows him to not be completely obvious as a killer) to slip in to the front gates, and others might throw themselves in the way of a guard that wants to stab the shit outta you.

AC is a whole lotta fun so far and jumping around rooftops and shit doesn't get old. Mass Effect is still up in the air for me. I have to spend more time with it to see if I want to bother beating it. I've also got BioShock waiting for me after that I bought before my games came in since I've begun to enjoy putting in an hour or two into a game every night before work.

Anyways, if you haven't yet, rent or buy Assassin's Creed. It's worth it.

A collection of thoughts.

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:56:23 GMT

This is shit I've been pondering but don't feel like writing essay-long blog posts about. It's like a Cliff's Notes on future blog posts I'll never write. Plus I've got time to waste at work since I've done everything and I rule too much at solitaire.

1.//> In an extension to my post yesterday about how I don't like our troops, I'd like to explain the length of my support for em. Basically I see our military as our "special move." Like that 20-button combo you furiously pound into a controller in a video game. They are the world of hurt we unleash if our regular shit (i.e. diplomacy and otherwise being moral, smart, respectable human beings) doesn't work.

At the moment I support our military in doing the best they can in a situation they shouldn't be in. Those guys signed up for that shit so they're doing what they're getting paid to do, even though they - as the special move of our government - shouldn't be unloaded in situations like this that simply line the pockets of our corrupt-as-fuck politicians and to settle a score for fucking with our president's dad. I don't know exactly how to put that in a nutshell without it sounding wrong, but I guess I support them in succeeding in the job they were given, not because they are protecting freedom or some shit like that, but because they were fucked over by people who were abusing their power.

2.//> I don't entirely think there are double standards in men fucking lots of women and women fucking lots of men, at least to the extent people make it out to be. I think the difference is that men who fuck lots of women are pretty open about it. They are pretty easily identified. You can pick out thedouchebags in a whole gaggle of people without even trying. Women, on the other hand, have a tendency of acting like they aren't fucking lots of people, or they still act like they're above it a good amount of time.

My response is that you might still be called a slut by some assholes but those guys are pretty often considered douchebags, too. If you are just honest about it and not act like you are more dignified than that, you'll at least be an honest slut or an honestdouchebag. This applies to those whores who are VDing it up with all those soldiers. Just be honest and admit you wanna fuck some guys in uniform. Don't give us some stupid bullshit like you're "being a whore for America." You really can't justify with some noble-like response at being a slut, I'm sorry.

3.//> If you've ever been in a car while I'm driving, you know I cuss like a motherfuckin sailor. It's the only time I'll use some real bad racial slurs because fucker, asshole, fag, etc. etc. lose their punch after the 20th time used.

On to the point: motherfuckers, use your goddamn turn signals. Don't make me wait on your ass and find you're not even gonna get in my way because you were too busy fingering your prostate to flick your left wrist and hit the turn signal. And while we're at it, fuck crippled people.Yall just cannot drive at a speed that keeps traffic going. You always gotta practically roadblock that shit cause you're going 30 miles slower than everyone else. To this day I have only encountered one handicapped person who drove like a normal human who needs to fucking go from point A to point B should, and I salute that individual with every ounce of respect I have.

4.//> Fuck the WGA. Seriously. I supported them in the beginning because, hey, I'm probably gonna end up joining them sometime in the future since it's an industry I want to eventually work in for a livelihood. But now I'd like to fuckin see some new episodes of the Daily Show and Colbert Report that I haven't seen 20 times already. Notice nobody gives a shit about yall's plight already and it's been, what? A month or so since yall started? Fucking get back to work.

Lastly...

5.//> The new MadTV sucks. It sucks hard. None of the new cast members are funny. In fact, they picked all of the comedians that I thought were painfully fuckin unfunny so far. The ones that I change the channel from when they end up having their half-hour special repeat on Comedy Central. And the new format blows, too, as does the exclusion of Ike Barenholtz. Why ruin the show by changing shit that didn't need to be changed? It's why I liked the show over SNL! It felt like MadTV was a bunch of people who had fun making funny parodies and shit and it felt a whole lot more intimate. Now they're following the same SNL format of making it into some half-assed Broadway show type thing.

Goddamn unfunny Jews.

And that''s all folks! Weeeee!!!

An unpopular opinion of our troops.

Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:04:18 GMT

Is it wrong to say I really don't like the soldiers in our military?

Do I support our troops? Yes, I do. I am an American and they comprise our military and they are currently fighting against extremists whose only goal is to fuck things up for the innocent civilians of those respective countries. It's not as easy as to classify it as good vs. evil, but if there had to be a label for us, we'd certainly be the lesser of the two evils.

But can I say that I don't like them at the same time? A good majority of those in the military are what I like to call "assholes." They are giant pricks in camo and I'm not afraid to say that. They're like the football players in high school and college except instead of a football, they've got an assault rifle. Look at a picture taken of a soldier. Have you ever seen one where they're NOT trying to look like a badass?

I can't honestly feel bad for most of these guys because the military is a job. Gasp! They get paid for this stuff, granted it's not much, but they do. This isn't Vietnam or World War II where you've got helpless kids being given a helmet and a gun and thrown out there to defend good against evil. These are guys who choose to serve in the military.

Now they say that doing so is a noble thing. I certainly think it can be, but I highly doubt most of those soldiers are doing it because they believe in freedom and doing good to help the world. Most of these guys are doing it for recognition. They want to feel important. They want to blow shit up with guns, travel to places they might never go to, get paid and get an education they wouldn't otherwise afford because they can't pay the exorbitant fees associated with college. They just radiate this total dick aura that people buy in to like crazy.

And then you've got these women who SOOOO want soldiers and be that military girlfriend or wife for a guy that's "protecting our country!!11" Again, these guys aren't protecting our country like in WWII or any of that shit. Times have changed, idiots. You know what? Those women are just as shallow as some of those soldiers because I'm willing to bet my money that if those guys weren't in the military, they wouldn't give them the time of fuckin day. People like Liz (she isn't reading this but if she does, I don't care) who think they are head over heels for these guys when they're really head over heels for a soldier, not the individual. I bet if she actually put some thought into it, would she settle for being just a regular ol' girlfriend for a regular ol' guy? Would she even have cared enough about him to go out with him in the first place if he was working at Burger King or something instead of being stationed at Ft. Benning over another guy who was a soldier? Fuck no. Hell fucking no. They don't want to admit it but that's exactly how it is.

There's a word for women like that. Well actually, there are words. And it's not simply sluts and whores, cause sluts and whores are glad to admit it. They're they're kind of sluts and whores that are dumb as fucking doorknobs which is why they get diseases and pass em on to the next group of soldiers they want to fuck.

I bet you're thinking I'm jealous of those soldiers who are getting all of the recognition and shit. I'm not. Like I said, they're doing stuff I'd rather not do, and hey, I've got friends who either joined or tried to join and I'm still great friends with them. I'm just tired of the lies and the bullshit people put out to make it seem like all of this is something different than it really is. Call me un-American or un-patriotic. I don't care. But if you do, think real hard about yourself first before you open your mouth because I bet there's some startling realizations you haven't found yet.

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:47:58 GMT

I feel like shit. Not sick. I haven't come down with anything. But more like I feel emotionally drained. I guess that's how you should feel after burning a bridge to a friendship with someone you genuinely cared about.

I don't know. I don't really know what to say about it. It sucks.

No Country for Old Men

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:00:02 GMT

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007)

This movie rocked. Hard. I'm a big Coen Brothers fan and I'm sure you've heard in pretty much every review available for this film that they "returned to form" or something like that. I don't know if that's the right thing to say, I mean granted it's been a while since they've put out a Fargo (which is what I'm assuming these reviewers are talking about) but they've always been in form to me. I've never seen Intolerable Cruelty but their other recent films all have that dark, quirky, Coen Brothers quality to them that is easy enough to spot.

But enough about that. No Country worked on all levels for me. If you've been waiting for a good old fashioned crime movie without the sheen of twelve different writers and a director who thinks he's the next Quentin Tarantino, then it's finally here. It's bloody as fuck, darkly humorous, and very intense.

One other thing that I give the Coens major kudos for is their use of sound (or lack thereof). There is barely any soundtrack. No shrill strings to signal "a cat is gonna hop out of the shadows before the killer pops up from behind" or "this is where there's drama. Cry. Please." There's simply the sound of breeze or cars passing by, or footsteps approaching outside the door, or nothing at all. It employs much of the same techniques to create real suspense that the French thriller "High Tension" did - pulling it all out from inside of us as a natural response rather than manufacturing it with quick camera work and a soundtrack.

Go see it. Even if you're not a Coen brothers fan. It's every bit as excellent as the trailer implies.

Woah.

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 01:51:04 GMT

I forgot I had this thing. I was going through my bookmarks from an old browser and found this there. Livejournal sure has changed. I see they stopped completely being lame like usual and realized "hey maybe we should offer services everyone else offers now instead of making people pay for it."

I don't know if anyone on my friend's list still uses this place but if they do, I hope they've had a nice Thanksgiving and all that. I think I remember starting this journal way back when I liked a girl from class that posted on it a lot. Those who don't remember me, I'm not surprised. I think most of the people I've got on my list are from some forums I used to visit a couple years ago that I just recently started posting on again since UT3 came out. I'm a writer, working 6 days a week at the county jail as a pharmacy tech and records person, someday hoping to write and direct my own movies.

Maybe I'll start using this again. Lots of old memories posted here that I forgot. That's kinda neat to revisit.

Been a Long Time

Sun, 06 Feb 2005 20:22:13 GMT

Well, I think it's pretty obvious I've almost abandoned this journal completely due to the fact that nothing has really been that interesting lately. Who knows, maybe I'll come back and start updating it again, but I'm kind of tired of LiveJournal's slow responsiveness and bulky feel to keep on using it.

For those that care, the only journal I really post on anymore is my Rotten Tomatoes Movie Journal that I update with a small review about every new movie that I've seen and any updates that I may have on a writing project. Come check it out sometime if you're bored.

Otherwise I've been kept busy with my job at the jail and my movie reviewing gig at Smart Popcorn, which is pretty cool. I've still got to call up their contact to get myself on the "free movies" press list for my area. The people there are really cool and laid back, and have some large ambitions for the site's future. You can find me on there as "The Ham".

I'm about half-way done with my Shopping script, and have of course finished outlining it. What's taking me so long is getting the dialogue right, and obviously dialogue is a pretty big part of the actual script, so I'm taking my time on it. I've also started work on a horror parody called "Township Torrance", based off of a short story I recently wrote, about a family moving to a New England bay town that is haunted by a monster that kills at night. It steals a lot from the Hound of the Baskervilles, makes loads of fun of the recent Japanese horror remakes that I'm so tired of, and most definitely has an obligatory Scooby Doo ending.

I'll be around.

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 23:14:47 GMT

Faye Wray, the blonde actress who played Anne Darrow in the original 1933 film "King Kong", has died after living for nearly a century. She was 96.

Fri, 02 Jul 2004 19:45:17 GMT

Sun, 13 Jun 2004 00:21:32 GMT

IMPORTANT!!! PLEASE READ!!!

DO NOT CLICK ON THE 'THIS IS INTERESTING' or 'WHOS SAUSAGE IS LONGEST' LINKS YOU MAY SEE IN YOUR FRIENDS LIST. IT IS A LJ HACK THAT WILL STEAL YOUR LJ PASSWORD AND POSSIBLY LOCK YOU OUT OF LJ (BY CHANGING YOUR LJ PASSWORD). IT IS ALONG THE SAME LINES AS THE RUSSIAN 'NAME' MEME THAT WENT AROUND YESTERDAY!

If you *do* click it, your password was sent to the owner of that website. You should change your LJ password *immediately*, and sign off, then clear any cookies out in your browser before signing back into LJ.

More info:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/theferrett/308563.html

PLEASE READ THIS AND POST IT INYOUR OWN JOURNAL, AND YOUR COMMUNITIES. PASS IT ON!!!

Trigger Men Exerpt

Mon, 19 Apr 2004 00:00:43 GMT

I just got done writing some in my script and I felt like sharing some more of my favorite scenes.

It's pretty funny and there's some nice gunplay action in here.

Manny takes the cell phone and holds it up to his ear.

MANNY
(to phone)
Fuck natural causes.

He steps back and then launches himself at the door. It flies open, only to
reveal PHIL, a grungy man wearing a bath robe, boxers, and holding a sawed-off
shotgun in his hands.

MANNY
You should've just opened the fucking do--

He notices the shotgun, and quickly his face goes pale.

PHIL
Eat shit you pompous bastard!

In a split second, Manny drops to the floor. Phil fires the shotgun, turning the
wall outside the apartment into swiss cheese.

MANNY
Fuck!

Manny pulls out a BERETTA pistol and fires two into Phil's leg. Phil immediately
falls to the floor. The shotgun falls out of the man's grip.

Manny quickly stands up and looks behind him at the wall. His eyes wide.

MANNY
That sucks!

We can hear yelling coming from the cell phone. Manny notices this and holds it
to his ear.

MANNY
(to phone)
What are you babbling about?!

MARK (VO)
What the fuck just happened! I heard a gun -- guns!

MANNY
(to phone)
The sonofabitch was expecting me! Calm down.
Everything's cool. I'll call you back. Wasting my
goddamned any-time minutes on this shit.

He flips the phone closed and steps into the apartment.

INT. PHIL'S APARTMENT - DAY

Phil reaches out for the shotgun but comes short.

MANNY
Oh hell no.

Phil whimpers.

MANNY
You think you're getting away with that? Shotguns are
nasty weapons. If you're going to kill someone, the
decent thing to do is kill them with a handgun. A single-
shot weapon.

Manny walks over and kicks the shotgun away.

MANNY
Not with that beast. Sure sign of a slack-ass cheater.
At least handguns take skill, determination. You got a
handgun and you're god. You're fucking Zeus! And every
bullet is a lightning bolt just waiting to be thrown
from the sky.

He shakes his head.

MANNY
Shotguns are for pussies, Phil. And the moment you
clenched that weapon, you became one. And the moment you
tried to kill me with it, you became lower than a pussy.
Some druggie sucking dicks in a restaurant bathroom for
loose change has more dignity than you.

Beat.

MANNY
And so now we come to the exciting climax of this
visitation. I wanted to be civil! I wanted to end this
quickly and easily with as little bloodshed as possible!
But you had to make things complicated. You had to fuck
this whole thing up. And that makes me mad, Phil. That
angers me to an extent your feeble fucking mind can't
comprehend. And now you're going to pay for your
mistakes.

Phil screams but is quickly silenced when Manny unloads a whole clip into him.

Manny looks down at his pants and notices a blood speck.

MANNY
You stained my pants, too. Nothing a little Downy can
take care of.

He kicks the dead Phil in the side.

MANNY
Fucker.

Destro

Thu, 25 Dec 2003 02:44:05 GMT

Did you delete your comment about the Friends Only thing?

Just askin cause I couldn't reply to it. I tried viewing the thread but there wasn't any text in it.

Maybe LJ is fuckin up...

Friends Only

Sat, 13 Dec 2003 03:59:33 GMT

It had to happen some time or another, but this journal is now going to that ol' friends only route.

With everyone being able to sign up for LJ again, I don't see much trouble of signing up and requesting to be on my friends list.

What you can expect from my journal: lots of naughty language, updates to my site, early views of my funny parodies, songs, poems, etc. some jokes once and a while, the usual deal.

To request to be on my friends list and be able to read my journal, just reply to this and I'll add you. Easy as pie.

LJ News

Fri, 12 Dec 2003 22:05:06 GMT

Invite codes are now abolished and anyone can join.

This is good because:
1) I can stop being pestered for codes for a friend's friend's friend.
and
2) I can stop giving out my limited invite codes and find the person who used it updates their journal every once in a blue moon.

So tell your friends, family, pets, that they can now join LJ, for free. Of course, us paid users still get those neato perks.