This is interesting:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2072089,00.asp

Apparently, Yahoo! and IBM are releasing some silly small-business software, which seems pretty more like little more than a glorified search engine. And it's from Yahoo!, so we know it sucks.
This stupid new software targets small- and medium-sized businesses, or SMBs. This reminds me of this cool way to destroy the cell phones of people you don't like: Service SMS Attacks, or SSMSA. They're great. Apparently, providers occasionally update cell phone firmware remotely. Meanwhile, the malicious can obviously use the same method to ruin everything. It's grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat.

South Dakota Democratic Senator was hospitalized earlier today. That reminds me of the slew of conservative senators and preachers who have recently fallen out of the closet. There's really nothing I enjoy more than a tearful apology, no kidding.
Take Ted Haggard. That guy really sucks. He's spent his life telling gay people that they're going to hell moments before killing them. Now, he's the gayest man in America, and he still won't admit he's full of "it."
And look at Paul Barnes, another poor guy, a gay evangelist who "struggled with homosexuality since [he] was a 5-year-old boy [who on countless nights] cried [himself] to sleep, begging God to take this away." Poor everyone. Why can't parents and societies just stop torturing their children for a change? Is it that hard?

That "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" article blew me away. It's so awesome that such a thing exists. I hope the antichrist graphic is just Osama bin Laden or Hillary Clinton or something and the object of the game is to bring democracy to the forces of evil.
Post-apocalyptic stuff is so cool, especially with insane religious overtones. Have you guys heard of this game called Fallout? I think it came out like 6 years ago. Anyway, it looked sort of fun. I played a demo.
:-*

Is anyone else sick of nerd-core rap? Well, you would be if you'd ever heard of it. It's just a bunch of losers singing about stupid stuff like video games, usually with text-to-speech programs.
Actually, I take it all back. Nerd-core is awesome. I love these guys. There are many genuinely catchy songs. I guess I've just heard them too many times, or something. Check out this minidocumentary on youtube:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=A8VTmy5clHk

The point is, MC Hawking is fairly good. MC Frontalot is probably the most popular nerd-core guy out there, and he's ok, too. There are a few others I can stand. The thing is, none of these guys are great. They're very mediocre.

This semester I've been making a documentary about the wards at a youth detention facility up on Baldy. The initial idea was to assess the arts programs provided at the camps, specifically a program Pitzer organizes where the wards make music videos with their own beats and raps. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm honestly never happier than when I'm up at those camps. It just inspires this indescribable admiration when you talk to a kid five years younger than you who has been through so much more, and shown so much more strength than you can imagine, and still looks at you like an equal as if your life hasn't been a joke compared to his.

When I was just a wee lad, I got a brand new Super Nintendo from Toys R Us. It was one of the happiest days of my life. Another one of the happiest days of my lives was when I got my nintendo 64. I remember hounding my parents for weeks leading up to Christmas whatever year that was. When I actually opened up that beautiful package, I was on top of the world. I can't really remember what year it was, but it was probably around 1995. Or so.
But that's not important right now. What is important is that I have rediscovered my Super Nintendo. The most impressive part about some of the early super nintendo games is the fact that they can be so fun yet so crappy.

Well, I saw a movie last night, and I've got a few moments to spare, so I'd like to share my thoughts with all of you, my loyal minions.

The movie was Stranger Than Fiction. The actual story was very original. Actually, in a way, the story was not that original. It was along the lines of American Beauty or any story where a boring man miraculously changes his life, to give it more "meaning." The main character, a boringly predictable tax auditor was played by Will Ferrell in a role that most people would not recognize him in. Although, Will Ferrell does much more dramatic acting than people think, still when you see him in a role where he doesn't yell, not even once, it's surprising.

Chapter 3

Modern Japanese Culture, Art and Apathy

An angle that remains largely unexplored in the study of artistic activism is the result of individual countercultural sentiments without a larger subcultural arts movement within which to unify. The current artistic and activist climate in Japan allows an examination of countercultural sentiments when surrounding artistic subcultures targeting a mainstream oppressor are absent from the environment.

Unlike the high rates of violence in South Africa, criminal activity is rare among youth in Japan. Yet several other symptoms reflect a different type of alienation from mass culture: Japan’s birth rate is among the lowest in the world, while the country suffers more suicides than any other wealthy developed nation. In 2005, there were roughly 10,000 more deaths than births in Japan, officially marking its shrinking population (Zielenziger 9). Equally disturbing, Japan has the most hospital patients with mental illnesses of any nation in the world. The nation’s mental institutions record an average stay as over a year long (Zielenziger 142).

I started writing my thesis chapter on South Africa, and I'm not sure what it was, maybe the fact that I've never been to South Africa to see a real SA'n play, or never spoken face to face with someone who lived in SA during apartheid, but I just felt like I was writing a research paper. Everything I wrote was taken directly from another source, and primary sources (either scripts or films) are pretty hard to come by.

Also, our theses are supposed to be cumulative expressions of what we've learned, our most passionate arguement about our the issue we care most deeply about. Anything I strive to prove about South Africa only applies to South Africa. I can always say there are parallels with other regions, but without going into it in depth, it's just words.

Since I'm sure no one is actually reading blog posts now that the semester is over, and most people are probably writing fervently to finish their blogs, I won't take much care with the words I use, grammar, speliing, or punctuation. I feel like I'm actually typing this for nobody, which is liberating.

Well, the other day, was reading a Newsweeks article about the internet. Now, I don't know statistics, and I can't remember if the article addressed this issue specifically, but I'm just guessing that if it's not already a more lucrative medium than television, it surely will be one day. In fact, I bet in our lifetimes, all television is broadcast through some sort of an "internet" connection.