by Matt | Mar 15, 2003 | Imported Entry
Well, classes are over, everything went well and now I’ve got nothing to do for a week and a half. Lauren flew back home to TX last night and got in around 10pm. She gave me a call from Houston to tell me she made it and that she was going to get some food with her folks. Chip also called me from somewhere in VA to tell me he was stopping for the night. I looked up hotels for him and found him a Holiday Inn somewhere near Fredricksburg. He should be back on the road soon and should get here this evening, probably around dinner time. I know that the bottom of VA is 6 hours and that DC is about 8. He’s somewhere in between.
As for Jason and I, today we’re going to try and find a coffee table. We’ve been looking for one for weeks now and just can’t find anything decent (cheap) enough to buy. Jason also saw Nagle at the movies last night and he said he’d be up for doing something. So, who knows. I’m going to hit Walmart up for some random things and probably vacuum before Chip gets here but other than that it’s all about the computer games.
After beating Splinter Cell last night and Command & Conquer: Generals the other day I figured I should find something new to occupy my time. I started playing Age of Mythology but it’s pretty much like every other “Age of Insert Something Here” game. It’s a typical RTS (real time strategy) and I’m not sure I’m in the mood for another one after finishing C&C just the other day. Then I gave Freelancer a try. Holy crap this game is good. Repetitive but good. Most (99%) of the missions are exactly the same and the game turns into a routine simply for money to make your ship better. Then I reinstalled Medal of Honor and added on the Spearhead expansion pack. Why did I ever stop playing this game? Medal of Honor won my personal “game of the year” status two years ago (? – or was it last year?) and this expansion pack is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Nothing, and I mean nothing is more fun than vanquishing wave after wave of Nazis. In between blasting Nazis and flying around space I’m also going to be cleaning out my hard drives. I’ve got two nearly full drives and nothing but crap on them. They haven’t been “cleaned” since last summer. Time to back some CDs up and wipe’em.
That’s about it. Spring break is here. Let the video game fun begin. 🙂
by Matt | Mar 12, 2003 | Imported Entry
Since politics is one of the things we’re encouraged not to talk about at parties and social gatherings I figured this might be a good time to voice my opinion since there are no parties or social gatherings to ruin with my blatant disregard for social graces.
I guess I’m not so much annoyed at as I am confused by politics. Surely President Bush has gotten the message that everyone except himself and his cronies wants to avoid war? He must know it. There have been bigger anti-war rallies than there were during the later years of the Vietnam War. I kind of feel bad for the guy. To not even be the real president and then to have support for your campaign crumble under your feet must be disheartening. There was even a US diplomat that’s resigned that I simply need to quote:
“Throughout the globe the United States is becoming associated with the unjustified use of force. The president’s disregard for views in other nations, borne out by his neglect of public diplomacy, is giving birth to an anti-American century.”
Jebus, this shit is going to go on for months. Let me tell you how I see it playing out, and it’s in two different scenarios. Hopefully what will happen is that the new UN resolution won’t pass this weekend and they’ll extend their deadline to vote until next week, then that won’t pass but by then even the British will have pulled out their support for military action. The president will be facing such global opposition to military conquest that he backs down and this saga is stretched out for decades in political spats with the middle east. That’s a hopeful scenario. If the thief-in-chief gets his way he’ll declare war on Monday, say “fuck off” to the UN on Tuesday and start bombing shit by the end of the week. We’ll flatten Iraq in about a day and a half but at a terrible price. Chemical weapons, nuclear weapons and more all have the possibility of being dropped either by factions in the middle east on our troops or after being smuggled into the country and detonated here. Either way the loss of life would be enormous. After that’s somewhat resolved we will have lost all relations with North Korea AND Iran, who both have nukes and that could destabilize most of the globe leading to WW3. Wouldn’t that be fun? That would start up a new draft and I’d have to put down “conscience objector” and move to Canada.
I hope that all that doesn’t happen because I just can’t see military action turning out well. It just won’t. The UN resolution won’t pass, France and Russia have already said that they would veto any vote that passes. My only question is this: if Bush is so completely and totally convinced about the “evilness” of Hussein and that he needs to be removed from power for everyone’s safety, where’s the proof? There must be something that Bush has seen but we haven’t. Aerial photos of nuke plants, video of Saddam killing civilians himself, an audio tape of him talking with Bin Laden, something! Apparently we’re too stupid or liberal minding for the administration to show it to us. OR they’ve got nothing and are simply using prior middle east tensions as a starting point and 9/11 as a shield and going after someone they simply haven’t liked since ’91. Yes, Saddam is a douche-bag, yes he has weapons, yes he’s a dictator and kills people randomly. Bush is also a douche-bag, Bush has bigger weapons and the only reason another country hasn’t invaded for “humanitarian reasons” is because the US government doesn’t randomly kill it’s civilians.
See, this would all be solved in about 20 minutes if I were president. I would invite Saddam to the white house and have a wrestling match on live TV for bragging rights. I win, you disarm. You win, I leave you alone. Then we’d both go out for a drink and talk about what morons our Secretaries of State are. That’s it. That would be my brand of diplomacy. I’d continue this policy in various forms until the world was a safer place. For example, I’d invite the Prime Minister of North Korea over for some ice-cream and talk about what happened last night on Fear Factor. Then I’d ASK HIM why he feels that he needs nuclear weapons. If he can’t give me a clear answer, I’d take his ice cream away. It’s really simple folks. If your world leaders are acting like a spoiled 12 year old, treat them like one.
Then again, if I were president, hockey would be the national sport and we’d all have Fridays off. But that’s just me. Anyway, those are my completely unfounded, non-fact-based opinions. Most of you probably disagree with them and that’s ok. I just want more justification for war and war as a complete last resort. I want to know exactly whats going on and WHY we think it’s necessary to start blowing shit up, other than to prove the size of our political wang to the world. Otherwise I don’t think war is justified. I also like hockey. But that too is my opinion. Take it or leave it.
by Matt | Mar 11, 2003 | Imported Entry
Well, finals are coming to a close and I have to say that this semester, besides being frustrating wasn’t a half bad one. No more unwelcome guests staying on couches, good classes, a reasonable amount of work, not to many headaches. I am more than a little disappointed in my photography this quarter however. I don’t feel I accomplished all I set out to do. I’ve talked about this with Lauren, Jason and my professor Jenny and they all feel that while the work isn’t fantastic it’s very far from “bad” and that I did what I needed to do. There’s only one way to work through some sort of creative “block” and that is to keep working at it and carry on doing what you’re doing. By giving up you never get over it and by trying to work through it there’s a larger chance of finding a solution.
At any rate, I think my work is so-so this semester. Other people who have seen it disagree and think it’s fantastic so I guess it isn’t so bad after all. I also expressed my concerns to my class and everyone was very supportive and I got some nice compliments. 1 final down, 2 to go.
Tomorrow I have my last critique in Portrait class. I feel less confident about my work in Portrait than I do in Personal Vision but I also care less so it sort of evens out. I don’t “need” a good grade in Portrait, it’s only an elective, and I don’t think I’m going to get a bad grade but I also know I’m not going to get an A. That’s fine, I don’t think I did A level work, I wouldn’t deserve it. At any rate, that critique is tomorrow and that’s all I have to suffer through.
Thursday all I have to do is show up to both classes and then I’m done. In Shakespeare I have to show up and write a paragraph essay-type answer to a question yet to be determined. I’m not worried about that in the least since I have a solid A in the class and couldn’t really loose it if I tried. After that I only have to show up for personal vision to see the last of my classes work. It should be good. Afterward I come back and spend time with Lauren before her plane leaves on Friday. Saturday Chip arrives and Spring Break begins.
We don’t really have any “plans” as far as Spring Break goes. I’d like to go to Savannah Smiles once if everyone is up for going. Chip also seems to want to go to Hilton Head which I’m also up for. As for the rest of the week, I’d like to get my network card working on my Linux box and finish Splinter Cell and Command and Conquer. I’ll of course take Chip around to see all the splendor that is Savannah… after the tourists leave of course. St. Patrick’s Day here is insane and I’m told it’s the 2nd or 3rd largest celebration in the country, behind only New York and Boston (of course). I don’t quite understand how there are so many irish people in Savannah but I’m guessing it’s probably for the cheap liquor.
That’s about it. I had some random links to share with you guys too but no one ever reads them anyways so what’s really the point? I’ll let you know how things go and I’ll mention what I’m up to this coming week once Chip gets here. Oh, and there might be a website redesign somewhere in there too. We’ll see. Later.
by Matt | Mar 9, 2003 | Imported Entry
Somehow, I got “Artist Spotlight” at Design Technika². I also got 3 wallpaper posts mentioned on the frontpage! It must be a slow news day or something. Check it out. I must be dreaming. I’d better take a screenshot just incase 🙂
by Matt | Mar 7, 2003 | Imported Entry
2 quick links before I leave.
– Current, “Must Read” News at MichaelMoore.com. There’s some very interesting tid-bits in there. Two stories about highschool kids being sensored, two about people being arrested in the mall for anti-war statements, etc. Very interesting reading.
– Mac “switch” ad spoof. The funiest of the one’s I’ve seen. Very long and very big (50mb) but it’s well worth the download. I saw it yesterday and I’m still laughing. The link is a direct D/L. If you’d like to visit their site, click here. There’s also a mirror here in case the above doesn’t work.
Later.
by Matt | Mar 7, 2003 | Imported Entry
I’ll make this quick. Last night I tried to print but there were classes in the darkrooms.. today there won’t be, so I’ll be printing. I’ve got a bunch of things I want to print and I’d like to get them all done today so that I don’t have to stress about them over the weekend. I’d also like to shoot my own engagement announcement picture this weekend. That’s what I’m doing. Funtastic huh?
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