Dogs, Singing British Women, and other crap no one should care about

I was talking to a friend one time and we were discussing the differences between Japanese shows and American shows. Perhaps what strikes me the most is the fact that a lot of Japanese shows are very heart warming and often go off on a good note in the end of the series or are usually very happy consistently throughout the series. A lot of American shows, however are dramas. If you don't happen to be a reality show, perhaps the top rated show out there is a drama. So then we started talking about Japanese news and American news. Perhaps it struck me at that time, but I never realized it: Japanese news is serious while American news is a joke.

Take for example: Japan freaks out after North Korea launches a missile over them. They're pretty serious about it. American news mentions it for about two times. And then moves on. To what? A dog. Sure it would never happen here, that is if you don't count Alaska as part of the United States. The thing is that to compensate for America's brutalization and sexualization of American entertainment, the news comes off as a joke, often times making laughable stories such as that British woman who can apparently sing. Sure, that's half a world away, but is it really necessary to play the video clip in the morning, evening, AND late night news? A crazy country just launched a nuke and we're freaked out by some hag who can sing. Who cares?

As much as the few of us can whine about media, there is nothing we can really do about it. We are conditioned and desensitized and all of this is goes through our routine, much alike the redundancies of life and the dimwits that hover around us, oblivious of the several happenings throughout the world....

No More Octomom. Please.

In my media class last quarter, the class came to know me as "That Dude Who Hates Octomom." Simply put, at the beginning of the class, we had a discussion as to what is currently happening in the media. Well if you have been living in a rock for the past couple of months, I'm sure you've heard about the mother who had octuplets on top of her sextuplets.... and somehow this is important. Okay, so it was important on the part of "Can she actually care for all of her children?" and the answer is "We'll see since it's hard to tell at this point, even with the fact that she's mentally unstable and stuff." I would leave it at that, but for some reason the media can't seem to shut up about Octomom.

Perhaps it's the economic climate that people are demanding to look for other things to worry about. Sure stocks dropping or AIG bonuses are terrible, but geez she just got two of her kids our of the hospital. You know, the sight of paparazzi swarming her SUV as she was getting two of her kids out of her hospital made me feel sick. Maybe media and journalism does deserve to die; perhaps in a way where people suddenly start nagging about things that no one else cares about.

How newsworthy is a woman bearing eight children when she's actually infertile and has some sort of mental instability (not to mention some of her children may have brain defects)? That's just about it. Sure, half the world is dying and more and more people are getting unemployed, but can we just lay off the Octomom? For weeks, I've been ignoring it, attempting to not post any articles about it, but it just got to the point where I just need to say something about it.

National Double Standard?

I don't have anything against legal immigrants. In fact, my parents are legal immigrants. They worked their way here, believing that they can find a better opportunity here, not just for themselves, but also for my brother and me. I respect every immigrant who has the same philosophy; who see America as a grand opportunity, enthralled by the rags to riches stories and believe that they could partake in the American dream. And they can. Everyone here has equal amounts of opportunity, but with one condition: you must work your way up to the top.

Although America is considered as one of the greatest nations by most third world countries, among the superpowers, America is an ignorant clout, a puritan country, bent on asserting the world its philosophies and enforcing them with a substantial grip that cripples not only its victims, but the aggressor itself. Perhaps this can be exemplified as to how Americans are being treated abroad: as stupid fanny-pack touting tourists, wandering the streets of Rome with an upside down map, breathing heavily as he lumbers his obese self, pointing at random and mundane objects in the town. We are ridiculed, not only by our foreign policies and government policies, but also through the people that live here.

Now let's go back the immigrant part of this argument: I specified the phrase "legal immigrant" because it is natural to think about the other side of the coin: illegal immigrants. I do not have anything against illegal immigrants except for one thing: learning English. Here in California, as well as several other states close the southern border, you may notice signs that are both in English in Spanish. Naturally, it's because of the enormous population that are only Spanish speakers in the area. This bothers me somehow.

You see, I always thought that part of becoming an American, or just living here in America is learning English. I believe that it's a way of life, and part of the hard work that will help you reach the top. The ability to communicate, socialize, and appreciate your daily American life is through understanding the language. Simply put: you can't just go down in Mexico and assert your knowledge in the English language; you'll be laughed at. You can't go to France and assert your American English; you'll be ridiculed. But if you happen to be from a Latin American country, and you go here in America, people don't mind that you speak the language, but it's really nice to know the language that everyone is speaking.

Again, speaking English is a way to communicate with Americans. When I mean Americans, I don't mean your usual Caucasian type. When I mean American, I mean Asian-Americans, Africa-native Americans, Native Americans, as well as other nationalities. What was the language of the conqueror has become the language that unites us and shows us how to communicate with each other. Limiting yourself with a single language will only isolate yourself from becoming a true American.

A lot of people have worked hard to learn English in order to get here. Although they may have an accent, they tried their best to become fluent. As I mentioned before, learning English is part of the process of attaining the American dream: working hard. Knowing other languages besides English is also important, simply to show to the world that we're not so close-minded or ignorant clouts. It shows the world that we can work hard too... and you know what, maybe we can reattain the respect of our fellow superpowers.

Arcadisms!

Arcades are endangered in this day and age; whatever is left of them are usually the ones where you pop coins in and throw a couple of balls and get tickets for prizes. You know, the Chuck E. Cheese types. I fear that in the following decades, the arcades will become extinct and no one will ever connotate arcades with video games because arcades will eventually be connotated with prizes or stuffed toys.

Because of the decline of arcades, people seem to have forgotten several unspoken rules. It's not hard to find them and can easily be observed with a regular arcade customer....

Sometimes there will be a person who comes in anyway and thinks he's all cool and awesome but then starts slamming his palm on the buttons. So I thought that I should create a list of things that annoy me about these people, but then again, I could just change it to a list of things that you should do for proper arcade etiquette.


1. If someone places a coin on the rim of the arcade or on the controller board, it is signifying their turn. Essentially, this is their place in the line and you must respect this placement. It's a good idea to keep an eye on your coin and count the number of coins ahead of you. It is often rude to slip a coin in when your turn is done and declare that it's still your turn. Sometimes, there will be a coin holder, which just makes everything easier.

2. If it's your first time playing the game, the moveset for characters are often in the controller board. If you don't know how to play the game, it is not necessary to slam the palm on your hand on the buttons while madly making 360s on the joystick. Don't slam on individual buttons to the point where the audible sound isn't very pleasing. Remember: each button has a specific use in the game. Slamming on all of them will just make you look stupid to everyone else. If you lose, slamming your fist on the buttons doesn't make you look cool either.

3. As much as taunting or teasing is appreciated among competitive friends, it is not advised to do so against someone you are about to fight. Even though you're the best player out of all of your group of seven year olds, there is a huge likelihood that the next player will be better than you.

4. Speaking of which, no matter how good you are, there is always someone out there who is better. If someone IS better than you, try not to call them cheap because this certain person is using a certain notorious character and a notoriously powerful super move. Again, this only makes you look like a douchebag, because for all you know, your opponent just defeated you with technical skill.

5. If you do end up playing against someone who likes to spam fireballs and unibeams, it is best not to get agitated with these people. The best way to handle this is to show them that their strategy is flawed by learning how to fight against these spammers and defeat them. They will usually learn their lesson or call you cheap for using such and such character with such and such super move. Instead of retaliating, just take it in calmly. You know who's the true winner here.

6. If you are playing against someone who never played the game before, it is best to teach them basics, or show them a character that is basic and easy to play. They would largely appreciate it even more if you allow them to practice with you for one round and play the next couple of rounds seriously. Acting superior and not saying anything, or even if you say "haha you suck" makes you look like a prick.

7. Finally, it's best to wash your hands before and after playing. No one really follows this, but it's quite disgusting to think about how you just sneezed and started playing...

Scum: The Blago Saga

As many of you may know, the Blagojevich Impeachment Trials have begun. Everyone seems to have taken this lightly, especially with the myriad of media that the Illinois Governor has appeared in, ranging from the campy talk show The View, to morning shows. His usual act of defiance in these shows is his steadfast denial of his corruption charges, said in a haughty rhythm and cadence, as well as aligning himself to peace leaders such as Ghandi or MLK (probably to create some sort of sympathy for himself, but his approval ratings beg to differ.) He keeps insisting that the impeachment trial is unfair and even "rigged" because of the Illinois Supreme Court's denial of entering certain tapes as defense testimony. Yes, he has restrictions, but so did Bill Clinton when he had his own impeachment. But he sure got acquitted. To top it all off, he didn't even attend the first day of the trial. None of his representatives did either. In short, Blago is doing the best he can to become a gigantic douche. A big, fat, wet one.

But the thing that got me off guard the most was when he raved about assigning Oprah (yes, the talk show host. Geez, what's up with him and talk show hosts?) Barrack Obama's former seat as Junior Senator (it's a good thing Oprah found it amusing and said that she would reject the seat if it was actually offered to her.) This probably tops his appointment of Roland Burris to the Junior Senator seat. You know what he's trying to do? He's trying to get the Senate in a sort of a crudely made trap, enough to make a hillbilly proud. He's trying to get a black person to fill in Obama's vacant seat because he knows that the Senate just can't refuse or they'll have to go with a race fiasco. He mentions that he considered Oprah for what? Publicity, of course. He mentioned her so that idiots like me will start writing articles like these to waste your time and so that we get to know him. But you know what? A lot of people are probably writing about what an enormous prick he is. People are reading papers and probably think that he's the most pretentious crook there is.

You know, Blago strikes me as the sort of person who would deny eating the cookies that his mother just baked even though his mouth was smeared with them. He strikes me as a person who would come home angry and kick the pet, blaming it for all of his troubles at work, even though he himself forgot to put the presentation in his porn-filled flash drive (maybe he was but he got too distracted with the porn).

That's how I see him anyway.

You know what they call these people? Scum. Scum of the Earth. These people are probably the most evil of evils. Think about it, he tries to sell Obama's seat (oh we can't prove that yet, HUUUR), he adopts himself a persecution complex personality whilst aligning himself to peace leaders, and then he does these outrageous things so that he can get publicity in order to get sympathy from the media, and probably from the population.

This guy probably thinks he's shrewd. This guy probably thinks he's balls to the walls. But you all know that he just ends up as a giant, wet, and used douche.

Nothing Else to Say? Hm?

I was watching the Inauguration yesterday because it is apparently some sort of obligation for people my age to be part of such historic events, and it came to my attention that the reporters are beginning to talk about Michelle Obama's dress (as well as their kids' wardrobes). At first I didn't mind since I was practically half-asleep, but then it dawned in me: they've got nothing good to say.

Another thing that bothered me is the camera man's (or is the producer's?) interest in showing close up of black people's faces. Sure it's the first black president and all, but do we have to see every reaction of every black person out there in the mall? In all likelihood, the inauguration attendees are multiracial and I'm sure the crowd wasn't predominantly black. I was certain that I saw a group of white people, Asians, Latinos, etc in the crowd. Why not focus on that?

Finally, the last thing I'm bitching about is the emphasis that Obama is the first African American President. I don't really consider him that (since by technicality, Woodrow Wilson beat him to it), but I consider him as the first multi-cultural President, in that he is of diverse heritage. Not only did his father come from Kenya, but he also had a white mother, and Indonesian relatives. So he's practically white, black, as well as Asian.

Just to let you know...

i r politikali kurect

"Happy Holidays" never really bothered me. It's the Holiday Season for a reason: that is, Christmas and New Year happen during the same period, and once in a while, Ramadan and Hanukkah are there too. Oh, and let's not forget Kwanzaa. The whole point of "Happy Holidays" is that we are all greeting the several cultures that reside in the United States. We do not want to acknowledge one holiday (by saying Merry Christmas) and we don't want to leave out other groups of people in the process. This is totally reasonable.

You know what's not reasonable though? "Holiday Trees" and "Holiday Wreaths", etc, etc.

They say that it's politically incorrect to call it a Christmas Tree, but they're treating this as if all religions have a Christmas Tree. So basically, the only reason why you would call it a "Holiday Tree" is if other religions have some sort of tree that represent their Holiday. So what's next? Instead of Menorah we have "Holiday Candles"? Instead of prayer mats we have "Holiday Mats"?

It's almost absurd to replace anything that has "Christmas" in it with "Holiday". Sure, Christmas is one of the major holidays during the Holiday Season, but come on. You don't have to change every single stupid thing.

Like I mentioned before, it's those "progressive" liberals who want to change everything. They never stop to think that their decisions are practically absurd and are made of failure and bullshit.... and yet they're up in their moral-shitting high horses that they can't even acknowledge their own stupidity.

Sometimes a little common sense works.