Another idiot from Texas...

You know the first one is don't pretend like you don't.

This time however, I'm speaking about a 16 year old boy. Maybe he is too young to understand the why he is such a moron. Maybe the ten years I have on him give me the clarity to to see his mistakes as having more impact than what he thinks. Maybe he really thought that he was being funny or sending the right message. Then again, maybe Jack Thompson was right.

I honestly can't believe I wrote that last sentence. However, when the hypocritical actions of a teenage boy are more of crime than a protest, you have to elude to the obvious conclusions.

I'll update everyone as to what I'm talking about before I go any further. Jack Thompson, who you may or may know, is lawyer. He is probably the paladin for banning and restricting video games with mature content. His name became widely known after the "Hot Coffee" incident (which you have to blame all of take two interactive especially Rockstar games for). Jack Thompson is the butt of every joke on gaming blogs. Not because the people who read and wirte gaming blogs are trying to play I'm rubber your glue with him. It's because generally Mr. Thompson will go on television with completely distorted facts and use what is either his misinformation or mincomprehension of these facts to back up his arguements. He always ends up looking like a complete arse which is why time after time television shows want to have him on or have him back. He perpetuates the stereotype of non-gamers that don't understand the gaming experience.

Jack Thompson's biggest stance is on violence in video games. If you were to talk to Jack Thompson he would be one of those people that tell you video games were responsible for things like Columbine. He would say that video games are used to desensitize our own soldiers and we shouldn't be subjecting our children to that sort of thing. He would probably blame 911 on Nintendo if it ever came up. It still eludes him that these games are all marked with ratings just like movies and music and that parents have a responsibility to deem which games are appropriate for their kids. He is constantly trying to get the government involved in which games the public should play. He also fails to realize that his stance is unconstitutional as proven with the rejection of a new law in the state of Illinois by a federal court in Illinois recently.

I'm getting off the subject. Having a deep resentment for Mr. Thompson, a 16 year old Texan high school kid began harassing Jack Thompson himself. He threatened him with torture of an extremely violent nature. This said torture was to end in his ultimate demise. He was arrested at his high school by the Harris County sherrif's department after Thompson submitted a tape of a phone call as evidence.

Maybe video games do rot your brain. Maybe that's why this kid was so jaded that he didn't realize he was only proving Jack Thompson right. Maybe this kid played too many hours of Halo or Manhunt or Pokemon and became all enraged at the thought of this prick lawyer that he decided to take action. Maybe he justs needs a few more hugs from his mommy.

Of course, Thompson is building this up to be some huge victory, a big I told you so on his part. The fact still remains that Thompson has no idea what else this kid has been exposed to in his life. I also think that the millions of completely non-violent gamers out there who will regulary take part in Halo death match's or games like Hitman should be proof enough that there is something more to these violent people than what games they play, what music they listen to, and what movies they watch.

I think first of all you have to look at what type of household a kid is coming from if he/she is allowed to play a game like Grand Theft Auto. If you can't tell a game is not good for your children when it's named after a felony then you obviously aren't paying attention to whay games your child is playing. If you aren't paying attention to what games your child is playing then what are the chances that you notice anything else that's going on in their life. You would have to be ignoring them. Now, I'm not trying to point fingers here, and there could be other possible reason why your child has a game that they shouldn't be playing at their age. But the kids who know right from wrong will hide it from you. They know if you care they will get an ear full. This is a whole other subject completely though and perhaps I'll have to address it on a later date.

Moral of the story kids....DON'T PROVE JACK THOMPSON RIGHT!....you end up ruining games for everyone. You then have to take as much responsibility for the decline of video games as Paul Eibeler (look him up if you don't know).

Does it really save that much money?

I was doing some Christmas shopping online. Specifically, I was looking for a gift for my older sister. I found exactly what she wanted no problems. I did my comparison shopping and I found it cheapest at a site called Alibris. Alibris is sort of like Amazon, although I think you can only find media there; books and movies and CDs and whatever.

The checkout process is simple a few days later I get an e-mail saying that the package was sent. Yadda, yadda, yadda, everything is going fine. I even make a two more purchases from the website, both Christmas gifts for my younger sister and girlfriend respectively. The ease of the process is similar with these items.

The important thing to remember about these purchases is that the do not ship with delivery confirmation, I'm assuming this is done to keep prices down. I begin to get a little puzzled however when the last two items I ordered show up before the first. So now I have to go find the dreaded page where you find out what to do when something goes wrong. It said exactly what I knew it would say. Wait until it's been 30 days since shipment before reporting this to Alibris. I knew this because I've had eBay items shipped media mail before and while a majority of the time it takes less than week, it has taken up to 30 days before.

The thirty day mark falls on a Saturday. I contacted Alibris on the Thursday before to tell them I hadn't received my item and that they should begin the process. (If you can't tell, I've done this jig before.) I got a response late the next day and it had very standard wording. Sorry for the blah, blah, blah. Make sure the address is correct...Make sure that no one else in your household has it and forgot to give to you...If it is please wait until after the 30 day period to contact us...whatever. The e-mail itself had lots of random charaters thrown in throughout it making it very difficult to read. The characters weren't English and they looked more like a combination of different punctuation marks.

I don't check my e-mail on the weekends and I knew exactly what response I was going to have waiting for me on Monday. It actually didn't show up until later Monday afternoon. The please be patient and wait for the 30 days to expire and then let us know. They know what day it shipped they should know by now that the 30 day period has already expired.

I then politely respond that it has been 32 days and I still do not have my order so now is the time for action. The response get to that is just plain stupid. Your item is considered lost in the mail and we will refund your money. Please wait at least a week for the bank to update your account.

Do they really save that much money on shipping that they have this policy. They won't send me another of the same item, they will only refund. Wouldn't it be smarter just to send the delivery confirmation so that these losses can be avoided? Why not resend my order (with delivery confirmation this time)? At least that way they still have my money. I obviously wanted the item since I ordered it.

Who practises business like this? With internet shopping the way it is... Here I am someone who has placed 3 orders in 1 month, with at least 25 items in my shopping cart to be purchased at a later date. Why would they deny me this item? Are they that good that profitable that they can afford to lose my business. Who makes these types of decisions?

Bye, bye, Alibris. You have been boycotted. No soup for you.

I hope anyone who reads this will stay away from the website Alibris. There are plenty more options when shopping online and you don't deserve to have to go through what I did. Here I am 2 months later and still no gift for my older sister. Think about that before you place your order this close to Christmas. Buyer Beware.

It Is Upon Us...

Yesterday, as I was walking past the empty parking lot that has been a pumpkin patch for the past month, I noticed something. They had flipped the sign over, now it reads, "Christmas Tree Lot". While I was in the drug store on Sunday getting a paper, I saw Egg Nogg where the Football season beer display used to be. Yesterday i walked into a drug store near work for a soda and I was greeted by a 4 foot Santa singing Christmas Carols, poorly. Finally today while I was making a visit to eBay I saw they had put up their Christmas theme on the site. The season is upon us...

I don't know why, but every year i am surprised when the Christmas decor comes up. It seems earlier every year. Christmas is still almost two months away and yet the lights and displays and songs. I just realized how much time we spend in this "Holiday Season" mode. More than 2 months, almost 20% of the year we have to be exposed to these things that are supposed to be representative of one day.

I dont pretend to understand everything, but this is always leaves me in quite a quandary. I understand that Christmas is one of the more popular holidays. And yes, I understand all too well that there are many preparations to be made for it, with the gift giving and family gathering. However, what I don't get is how anyone can take over two months of Christmas. Christmas started as a Christian holiday and their preparation for it (Advent) is only 4 weeks. Apparently it takes the rest of the world much longer, perhaps because the rest of the world hasn't celebrated it qutie as long, I don't know.

I'm trying to begin my preparations as well. I've already had to book my flight over a month ago. I'm trying to get all of the gifts together so that I'm not in a state of panic come the night before, as I often am. I am even trying my hardest to accept the weather conditions as they approach, no matter how much I despise them. However, I am still not ready for the adjust to Christmas mode and I'm sure there are others like me. So please just give us time, we are trying to come around, but it really is just too early. Early like the sunset since the time change this past weekend.

So remember before you decide to put in that Christmas CD that's been in the back of your collection or turn on your cackling 4 foot Santa Claus, be sure to brace your self for a swift punch in the face and Merry Christmas.

Went to the movies

I don't go to the movies as often as I would like, I do usually enjoy it. I did however go yesterday. The movie going experience I had yesterday made me never want to go to the movies again.

I saw Wallace and Gromit I actually liked the movie despite Dreamworks attempts to "Americanize" it, or dumb it down is more like it. But it doesn't matter what movie I saw it had nothing to do with the horrible experience I had at Century Theaters in Evanston, IL.

Of course the tickets are overpriced and the concessions are over priced. I have learned this and half accepted if, I at least expect it. The price really isn't an issue if you have a good movie going experience. I by no means had a good movie going experience.

First of all, the theater I was at normally has self serve concessions, this weekend the drink machines weren't working. So I had to go up to the counter and get a drink from one of the concessions stand attendents. I use the term attendent loosely because they seemed to just stand back there and complain about being there. At one point while I was waiting for one of these morons to get me a drink a gentleman wearing a dressier uniform looked directly at me and walked right through the door into the back. I'm assuming he was the lazy bastard in charge of the other idiots milling about. If I haven't mentioned the place wasn't busy at all. If fact we were the only ones in line.

When I finally get the attention of one of the girls who looked liked she had just been beaten senseless. I come to find out she was about as alert as someone who was beaten senseless. My order was for a medium diet coke and a large lemonade. I thought I would never have to explain this concept, but there are 3 sizes of drinks: small, medium, and large. That is how they are identified on the menu. She pours a medium diet coke, everything is going fine. Then she pours a small lemonade and I'm thinking that she's pouring one for herself or something. She begins handing that wrong order to us. I repeat my order. She then pours a small diet coke and a medium lemonade. By now a line of around ten people has lined up behind me and is getting as impatient as I am. At this point I'm very frustrated and I'm ready to yell at this girl and make her feel as stupid as she is. The other thing I didn't mention is that the different size cups are different colors. I then hold back and leave her with as much dignity as I possibly can. I tell her very slowly and clearly that I need her to pour lemonade into a large red cup and give me the medium diet coke that was in the purple cup that she had poured in the first place. Surprisingly when I talked to her at her 2 year old intelligence level she got it right. Because of this girl my movie experience is already ruined and nothing can salvage it, I'm ready to just leave.

Then I get to play the "where are the straws" game. Of course they wouldn't put them anywhere near the drinks, that would just be too convenient. Then I was looking around for the other straws, all I saw was small straws. It turns out that is all they have. So now I have a large lemonade, a small straw, and a bitter taste in my mouth from the incompetence at the concession area.

As I'm walking into the theater where the movie is playing...*BANG**CRASH* right in front of me falls a plastic child seat. One of the guys still cleaning the theater had thrown in over with out looking, we almost got hit by it. Then we walk past 2 of the cleaning crew up to the seats in the back. The 3rd guy finally stops us and tells us to leave. We can't be in the theater yet is what he told us. Those were the words he used too, "You can't be in here yet." So we go wait outside the theater for the 5 minutes one guy told us it would take on the way out. Why I didn't find a manager and chew his head off I don't know. Everyone that I had encountered there the ticket taker, the cleaning crew, the concession staff, everyone except the guy I purchased the tickets from hated their job and wanted everyone to know it. They were all rude as hell.

Finally getting into the theater, I'm wondering exactly what was cleaned up by the 4 morons that were throwing chairs around. The floor is covered in popcorn and sticky and there is trash strewn about.

I expected screaming kids and rude indivduals commenting on the movie as it was still happening. I'll tell you what though, you'll never forget the first time you hear a mobile phone ring in a theater and the girl actually answers it. She's lucky I didn't take the phone out of her hands and shove it down her throat.

I practiced much restraint this weekend. Is there such a thing as too nice? How much can one person take? If you had gone through something like this would you ever want to pay to go see a movie again?

...Century Theaters, you are officially being boycotted, enjoy the show.

Going to the movies

Recently, the movie theater business is in a slump. Theaters really haven't been trying to do anything different, but they acknowledge that significantly less people are going to the movies. In a article I read earlier today, it was reported that young males especially haven't been going to theaters. Young males are considered a key demographic in the entertainment industry. Here are my thoughts and theories about that report.

Less young males (the key demographic here) leads to less young females and small children too. If less young single men enjoy the movie going experience, they are likely to stay away from it as a "date" option. Going to the movies on a date is so cliche anyway and it doesn't leave room to talk and get to know each other (**slap**...sorry that was repressed female side taking over, although it is true). On the other side of the coin, young males with families are less likely to take their children to the theater. Since young children typically belong to younger parents, their fathers would be the ones falling in this demographic and causing them to miss the theater experience.

This leaves young women and old people, which together don't make a good movie audience mix. Young women are the ones you see answering their phones at the theater. Also, in groups young women can be quite annoying, because you know they can't keep their mouths shut for and hour and a half straight. All of these qualities are sure to upset the older couples who just want to sit their and enjoy the movie like they have in the past.

With the decline in ticket sales, movie theaters do need to push the movie-going experience. I've seen some places try it. I've seen theaters with cheap admission and elaborate menus, making their primary profit off of the dinner experience rather than charging $10 for a tub of popcorn. I've also seen movie theaters adapt a bar atmosphere, their primary profit is based off of the drinks rather than the ticket price. The problem I've seen with these types of places is that they are forced to show movies that are older. Most have never had a movie the first week it was released, actually most had never shown a movie that was still in (movie-only)theaters.
I don't know the little things about the theater business, but I can imagine that it comes from the Production companies. I imagine that the production companies wants the theater to charge a certain price per ticket when new films come out. Either that or the cost to have new movies at a theater is too expensive for these places who primary source of profit doesn't come from ticket sales. These theories lead me to think that the responsibility lies with the production companies. If they are going to require such high amounts to show a movie then they have to make movies that people want to see.

A good example of that is Project Greenlight. I watched it when it first appeared on basic cable earlier this year. I didn't make it past the first episode where the picked the script. The impressions I got from everyone involved is that it was between 2 scripts one was a good story and the other one was more profitable. Though everyone got to give their input, the production company got the final say in which movie got made, because they were paying for production costs. I haven't heard anything about the movie since. I have heard that other project greenlight movies failed....I wonder why?

I have the secret....

I was reading an article online earlier today about the effectiveness of advertising in video games. Apparently it is one of the most effective forms of advertising and it scores high in 18-34 year old males, which is most advertisers coveted demographic. Now, advertisers want to get their ads to as many people as possible. Also, game developers want their games to do sell well, especially at launch. Well, I hold the secret to both of those.

If game developers would just use the money that advertisers give them to reduce the price of the game they would sell more copies. Consequently, more people would view these ads, which would cause more advertisers to be interested in using games as an ad medium. Cheaper games, means more higher sales of new video games. The gaming industry, especially with the announcement of the in process eb games/game stop merger, hates resale games. They only get paid once when someone buys a used copy. Now maybe this is one reason why they keep the game prices high on new games, but they could solve this problem themselves.

Until you heed my advice, I will continue to purchase used games at the smallest fraction of the retail price and ignore ad campaigns within games as much as possible. This I promise.

You Have Options...continued

We left off at Tuesday. As far as I can see there is only one new show on Tuesdays that is worth watching, "My Name is Earl". There are a few good show returning on ABC for Tuesdays, but as far as new shows go this is it. This is hands down the best show on NBC right now. I'm going to say it's the best new show this year. It could also be the best show on television right now. NBC needed to pull out the big guns this season and they did with "My Name is Earl".

I really can't say much about Wednesday. There aren't any new shows that I would watch on Wednesday. ABC and CBS both have moved some of their seasoned veterans to Wednesday night, but there really isn't anything new worth talking about.

Thursday night belongs to UPN. At 7:00 a great new show "Everybody Hates Chris" is on. I give the name of the show a 1 out of 10 on originality, but the shows content makes the name forgivable. Following at 7:30 is a show called "Love, Inc." The matchmaker premise has not done well on television, but this show approaches it a little better than shows like "Miss Match". I am clearly not this show's target audience and I'll admit it really isn't the type of sitcom I would normally watch. However, being on right after "Chris" and the alternatives being the second half of Survivor or O.C., I think this show has potential to be around next year. Also there are a few characters on the show that just have me rolling.

Friday has never been a big television night. I think FOX is putting Malcom in the Middle out to pasture by moving them to Friday. It seems the WB are taking their turn being the Friday night sitcom station. New to their Friday line up is "Twins". I imagine it took all of 30 seconds to come up with this program idea, but they've done something right. I don't know if it's the cast or the writing, but something draws me to this show.

Just remember, whether your watching some tired old sitcom or Law & Order spin off, you do have a choice. You don't have to watch that awful reality programming. Let the networks know that we won't tolerate "reality" anymore.