Gearing-Up For An Explosion?

Gearing-Up For An Explosion?
By: Blue Rose

You'd have to be living under a rock these days to have not heard about the conflict going on in Egypt right now. With Hosni Mubarak finally stepping down from power, the Egyptians will be faced with quite a few decisions in the coming days.

Many Egyptian citizens are calling for the installation of a completely Civilian-Elected Democracy, but no one is sure who would take a leadership role in this type of a situation. What we do know is that this week "a council of high-ranking officers under army chief Mohamed Hussein Tantawi is governing the country and has promised to hand over power to democratically elected leaders." Whether this promise will be held true or not, and if it is who will hold this elected positions is anyone's guess.

One of the few things the current Egyptian leadership has told the media is that they will in fact honor current treaties, including their treaty with Israel. With the rise in power of the Muslin Brotherhood, this could become one of the hottest topics of the potential Egyptian election.

A quick glance at the demographics of Egypt show that it is the highest populated country in the Middle East, and that around 91% of its citizens claim to be of Muslim faith (99% of them being "Sunni" Muslims). These numbers seem to indicate that it is likely that whomever they elect will represent the voice of the Sunni Muslims, and represent it strongly. This could very potentially mean a rekindling of Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but, unfortunately, the world will have to wait and see.

- Blue Rose

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me
By: Blue Rose

If you're an old fan of the site you might remember an article from a while ago informing our readers as to the demonic nature of Justin Bieber (which can be read here)

Well, I regret to inform you that this demonic power has apparently been manifested through a new medium: the silver screen.

At this time I'd like to introduce a new segment simply entitled "Why Rotten Tomatoes is Retarded" that will consist of simply a comparison of their movie ratings.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never - %63
The Green Hornet - %46
The Mechanic - %52
Tron Legacy - %49

Now, I know the films I've compared it too aren't exactly the cream of the crop, but I mean come on. Call me crazy, but I think any system that gives the Justin Bieber movie any higher rating than "bore slowly into your skull through your ear with a rusty power drill" is more bogus than Obama's birth certificate.*

I'd like to tell you that I was a good critic and gave the movie a chance, but there is no way on God's green earth that I'd even consider spending two hours of my life on the male** version of Britney Spears in the late 90's., let alone pay for it.

Is this really what our great nation has come to? I mean, there are millions of people without jobs, there are people begging for loans just to pay their mortgage, and we go out and drop what is likely going to turn out to be millions of dollars on ticket sales?***

Now, don't get me wrong, if I were offered the type of money he was to....well....be Justin Beiber, I'd do it in a heart beat, but I'm a firm believer in my right to criticize him for it. Call it hypocritical, I don't care; I guarantee you he doesn't either.

I suppose the point of all of this is to say, "don't get caught up in all of it". This aptly named "Bieber Fever" is a real disease that will leech its way into your mind if you aren't careful.

- Blue Rose



*The sad thing is more people will be offended that I'm trashing Justin Bieber than because I'm joking about the leader of the free world. Crazy Times.

** I find this gender claim even more shaky than "lady" GaGa

*** Coincidentally his album sold 136,741 units its opening weekend.

Far, Far Too Long

Far, Far Too Long
By, Blue Rose

You know, I was glancing at my internet favorites today and noticed a very lonely S-Words link. I started to think about the impact that we used to have, and more than that how much I used to enjoy contributing, in my own way, to the online zeitgeist. Upon this extremely evocative experience, I felt extreme guilt. I felt like I had quit. Quit working hard at a vague dream, quit promises and plans that once were adamant in my mind, and quit having a voice. And, as I began to ponder these things, I became extremely curious as to why this is how things typically go in our lives (or at the very least mine). Why it is we tend to start down the slippery slope of relaxation that eventually leads to stoppage at the first sign of failure? Well, I for one am going to try to do something about it. I am going to take the advice that I have so often given, and attempt to reignite a voice that I have let lay silent for so long. I would at first like to apologize to all the fans that followed so diligently for so long, and then I would like to offer up a new commitment to try and hold fast to the achievement of the goals that originally characterized the creation of this ever humble site.

Hopefully along the way there will be laughs, amazement, anger, and all the other wonderful emotions that go along with observing our world today, but at the very least I hope to make you think about something in the vague-ist sense of the word.

Reminding you to always find your voice, Prima Voce,

- Blue Rose

A Retraction of Sorts

So, a while ago I made some predictions about The Old Republic, or more specifically, predictions of it's inability to live up to the previous titles of the series. One of the complaints was that the world would have to be static due to the fact that it's an MMO, and in order to make a point I took a potshot at the then-upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Cataclysm.

"Once it's turned on, World of Warcraft will be altered, and then go unchanged again. Congratulations, for the first time in ten years, the Warcraft storyline has advanced."

Oh burn! That'll teach em to push past the status quo. too bad I was wrong about everything.

It's true that the actual world was only physically altered once, but the state of affairs of each zone is far from set in stone. With WoW's new phasing technology, things will change depending on how far you are from an area's main story. Battles will begin and end. Characters will die, never to be seen again. It isn't a perfect system, and it isn't even applied to all cases, (bosses of dungeons will be kicking around again five minutes after they've tasted your steel) but Blizzard deserves an apology for my gun-jumping. I'm sure they were emotionally scarred by my words.

I still stand by my predictions about The Old Republic. In fact, once I'm done writing this, I'm going to get started on another list of preemptive grievances against the game. But in the mean-time, I'm sorry Blizzard, I should have trusted your dedication to innovation. But hey, we all make mistakes right.