One step closer to the future

One of the biggest cliched expectations of the future, going back years and years now, is the arrival of the flying car, for some time now since at least the 1980’s people have been saying “Where the fuck are these flying cars we’re supposed to be seeing by now?”. The new millenium rolled around without even a hint of it’s inception but it seems we might finally be getting what we have been asking for ages. Terrafugia have come up with a 2 seater vehicle which has the ability to fly up to 400 miles and can drive at speeds of 115mph. The design is a little to be desired for, which has been described as a combination of a mini-cooper and a volkswagon beetle but given that the first aircraft back in 1903 was not much more than bits of wood and metal in a very crude way, I think we may finally see the dawn of the “real” future coming soon though maybe we have gotten over it all at this point.

Addicted to stupidity

The family of a 40 year old smoker in Florida has filed a lawsuit against cigarette giant Philip Morris blaming them for his addiction to nicotine and then causing his eventual death from lung cancer.
Now this is one of many lawsuits against tobacco companies in recent years and still astounds me that people are blaming them for something that, to me is quite painfully obvious – that smoking is a health hazard. I cannot believe there was a time in our history when people didn’t actually think inhaling large amounts of smoke from tobacco leaves was safe. Were people that fucking stupid? Apparently so. And now? Still fucking stupid. On what planet are these people from, of course smoking is hazardous to your health and guess what? It’s your choice, not the tobacco companies. Now I’m in no way defending tobacco companies for what they do, after all they pedal their product to make money in a very deceptive corporate way, no different than alcohol which by the way is another drug which is a whole other ball of yarn in itself (The fact that cigarettes are banned from TV ads and yet alcohol still lives on and is responsible for just as many if not more deaths is quite a contradiction). Basically this is just another case of “we need to point the finger at someone other than ourselves”. As bad as any corporate tobacco company is, the bottom line is people choose to smoke, they are not forced. This is a quote from one of the attorney’s defending the family who filed the lawsuit:

“People smoke because they’re addicted, not because they choose to”.

So basically what he is saying is, people don’t choose to start smoking because of various reasons which include peer pressure, stress and or just to look plain fucking cool (which doesn’t by the way, not since the 1950’s at least and even then it was pushing it) but because they are addicted. Now maybe I’m completely way off base here but don’t you have to start smoking in order to be addicted to it? Typical lawyer talk only this one ain’t too fucking bright.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not preaching the fucking anti-smoking bullshit that non-smokers tend to put on, yes I don’t smoke though I have in the past but I have absolutely no problem with smokers or even smoking itself. It’s a personal choice and people should be allowed to do what they want within their own boundaires and not to affect others. Oh yeah sure people use the argument of 2nd hand smoke, what about us, we have to breathe in that shit. Well then maybe the whole factory industry better stop, or everyone should polluting the airs with the exhaust fumes from their cars. Where does it stop? Just because it inconveniences you doesn’t mean there has to be a law prohibiting it, we all live on this planet, we are all guilty of inconveniencing each other just for being here in the first place. While it’s unfortunate that the family has lost someone dear to them, the fact is it was his choice, he chose to smoke and he chose to continue. There is no lawsuit or argument here, he made the choice and he dealt with the consequences. People need to learn to take responsibility for their own actions and stop letting their own fragile emotions get in the way of life. Shit happens, deal with it.

End of year ramblings

So 2008 is almost done and dusted and I thought I would make one final post before closing the first chapter of this blog page. It has been an interesting year but more on a personal level for myself than anything. 

First things first, the 4h site (4horsemensite.com) has had an up and down year, slow but steady with mild peaks here and there. The multimedia section is taking off tho so we should score points for that at least. A great year for Metallica, a kick ass new album which has been receiving mostly positive news (aside from the whole sound issue, which you can read about on my opinion page at heavymetalnation.com) and a tour to boot. 2009 will see that tour continue on as well for those wondering what’s next on their menu. Music overall has been decent, a few quality highlights, a lot of shit releases not worth mentioning, same ol’ same ol’ as the saying goes. Albums which I did like which are worth mentioning include “Conquer” from Soulfly, “Black Ice” from AC/DC,  “The Formation Of Damnation” from Testament, “These Are The Good Times People” from PUSA and of course, Death Magnetic from Metallica. More good stuff to come out early 2009.

Slim pickins for movies this year, everyone was raving about the new batman movie “Dark Knight”. Admittedly I never REALLY got into the batman series or any comic book series for that matter but I did like the first 2 batman  movies with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. The new one had Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, 2 people I know nothing about nor do I particularly care as none of their movies even remotely interests me or their talent either. To compare the 2 pairs, well I’m not gonna ramble on about it but arguably from anyone I have spoken to about this, I don’t think there is a comparison as far as I’m concerned. Keaton and Nicholson were much better, but I know saying that stirs up a lot of shit! Oh and don’t get me started on Bale starring in Terminator 4. Ignoring his presence in the film, the terminator franchise is nothing, and I mean NOTHING without Arnie in it, he made the terminator series. Fuck while we’re at it, Sarah Connor’s character is sorely missed, anyone who saw Terminator 3 can vouch for that and fuck me if the Sarah Connor Chronicles was at least half decent purely because of her character. The trailer for T4 looks decent but at the end of the day, no Arnie, who cares? But as I said, as far as 2008 is concerned, there wasn’t a whole lot happening, a few choices here and there. The new Rambo was fun, good to see a real action star back on the big screen, these full blown action films are just lacking them these days, The Happening was another decent film, would have been better if it wasn’t for the atrocious acting from Mark Wahlberg, who isn’t usually that bad but M. Night Shyamalan usually puts out quality stuff (Lady In The Water just sucked); Religulous was probably the most interesting film/documentary put out this year. As an Atheist (or anti-theist is more along the lines of where I’m at) it was a very entertaining film but it’s really not catered just for atheists, even those who believe in religous mythology and such who saw the film also found it entertaining, if not interesting and thought-provoking. If you haven’t seen it, regardless of what side of the issue you are at, I highly recommend it. if that’s not convincing enough, the guy who directed Borat also directed this film along with comedian Bill Maher who fronted the film itself, tho in saying that, I did not find Borat to be even remotely humerous barring a few scenes here and there but must admit, the mankini is hilarious! Day Of The Dead and Diary Of The Dead, both from zombie horror mastermind George A. Romero are also noteworthy. Gotta love zombies! Which reminds me of Metallica again, har har! (All Nightmare Long video, go watch it!). Speaking of zombies, there was a video posted earlier this year from Teller, one half of comedy legends Penn & Teller which was submitted for a contest, basically the video is about zombies, and posed the question: When Las Vegas is hit by the epidemic, how will you tell the living from the dead? Check it out for yourself, quite surreal in itself – http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=28947955

As far as other releases go, the only thing worth mentioning is George Carlin’s complete DVD boxset of all his HBO specials plus a few bonus features as well. Though released last year, I only got it at the beginning of the year, it is just pure brilliance, that’s all I can say. No words can describe this man and the amount of comedy and thinking this man did. R.I.P. George, you will be missed.

The year started kinda ordinary but has ended pretty shit, I think most would agree. The world economy alone has put a damper on things tho it must be said, it’s a little exaggerrated if you ask me. Unless you had major stock in the market or are involved in that area of the finances, whether it’s retirement funds or your company was directly affected by it all, then I don’t see why people are freaking out. If you have a steady secure job, are renting or have a moderate mortgage and don’t live outside your means then you don’t really have anything to be worried about. I would worry however if you are unemployed with no work experience or education, no money or invested your life savings in a company that went down with the economy or lived well outside your means. While I sympathize with many who were unintentionally affected by it through job loss or loss of savings in a retirement fund etc, I do not sympathize with those who thought the good times were always going to be around and so decided to not live within their means. You know the ones, it’s either these young kids straight out of high school who thought they could get any job they wanted and did until they realized or will realize that all the money they spent on frivolous materialistic things was a waste and now have nothing to show for it, or it’s these well to do yuppie types who blew all their money on risky investments and now also have nothing to show for it. And these car companies who recently asked for bail out money from the government because they themselves had no money. No money? Bullshit! These pricks flew to Washington in private jets to beg for money just so they could keep their cushy lifestyle. I really hate these kinds of people, rich selfish arrogant pricks who step all over everyone else just to keep that extra buck in their pockets. Business managers are the same except they have no balls, just a bunch of yes men who blame and abuse all the wokers below them just to save ther own asses, to justify their jobs so they don’t lose their previous lifestyle because they know that when the economy goes down and companies have to cut their losses, the first to go are always middle management. But they won’t go down first unless they can get rid of people below them. No sympathy for them, NONE! Fuck em all!

Speaking of snobbish rich cunts, when is this obession with Paris Hilton going to stop? Enough already, who gives a fuck about this skinny  materialistic rich bitch, she is a worthless media whore who takes up far too much time on TV etc and for what? What does she do? She isn’t really an actor because she can’t act and she has had no acting training nor does she ever receive real film scripts, just typical z-grade pre-teen stuff that noone really cares about, she’s not a singer, shes even worse at that and she has no real power in the entertainment industry, even Kate and Ashley Olsen while pretty much in the same boat as her as far as talent is concerned, have legit star power because of their huge media enterprise ranging from films to fashion. Granted, it’s pre-teen kind of stuff but it’s made them millions of dollars and they actually have power in the industry. But most of all, they actually work for a living. Paris Hilton is a leech on society, on top of being a leech off the Hilton franchise. She bought her fame, she didn’t earn it which is why I cannot understand why she is even famous other than being the hereiss to the Hilton Franchise. Stop with the obsession people, she isn’t a real celebrity!

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, this year was particularly interesting for me on a personal level. I turned 30 in August and while it didn’t seem so significant at the time, reflection on it afterwards has made me realize that life seems to get better as the years go on. It’s true what some say, the older you get the more you learn and the wiser you are. Granted, I am still a pup in the grand scheme of things but I like to think I have lived a pretty eventful life so far and I know there’s a shitload of thing I know now which I didn’t when I was 20. 10 years doesnt sound like much but it is and a lot happens in your 20’s, maybe more so than in any other time in your life. I’ve been around the world, worked in several jobs, met many people in many countries and yeah, a few ups and downs but it’s all things I can say I have done and I know, I now know and yet there is still much to learn. I look forward to gaining some numbers and earning some silver. I used to think school and college was places you learn and then you stop learning, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids, retire, travel a bit and then die. That’s life. But it just ain’t that simple and I now know that even though that is considered the norm, that life doesnt and shouldnt be regulated like that, and I’m glad it isn’t. Life experiences are different for everyone, not everyone gets married or has kids or is lucky enough not to have to work. I did buy a house with my girlfriend last year, our first for both of us. We have no plans to get married, anytime soon, if ever at all, for reasons alike but different. Being opposed to religous bullying in our society makes it very hard for me to go through such a religous ceremony and I realized that first hand after attending 2 weddings this year. The word “God” mentioned in any kind of ritual or celebration is a difficult thing to get past but I know many atheists still get married anyway, even if it is not in a church. My girlfriend is an atheist as well but opposed to marriage for more personal reasons which I won’t disclose here. It’s funny tho cause we mention this when we are asked when we plan to get married by everyone, family and friends and they always question why we don’t want to get married. Again, another reason why I want no part of such a religious ritual to begin with. We are happy as we are and, god forbid (pun intented!) we do break up, no messy divorce! We just don’t feel the need to have a bit of paper that says we are married because we love each other, we know that ourselves, noone and nothing else can make that official but us. Kudos to those who do, I certaintly am not opposed to other people partaking in it but just leave the rest of us alone. The other thing that made 2008 a personal year for me was, as part of getting older and becoming wiser, is just the universe in general, the sheer size of the universe and just how insignificant we, humans, on this planet earth, really are. I’ve always been fascinated with astronomy and space and all that stuff but this year was the first time where I actually wanted to learn more about where we are, who we are and where we came from. Just to show the tip of the iceberg on how insignificant we are, we sit on a tiny planet in a solar system that sits in the corner pocket of a huge galaxy that contains millions of other solar systems and stars much like our sun. And our galaxy, the milky way, is one of millions, maybe billions of other galaxies in the universe. And whenever I think of that fact, It makes me realize time and time again how silly all of our troubles on our planet are, the whole environmental issue, the wars, the religions, the politics, even life itself when you get down to it, truly doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things in our universe. You and I die, our planet burns out and the universe continues on as if nothing happened. Life isn’t sacred, it’s short and insignificant and we only have to go through it once. We should make the best of it while we can.

I’ll see ya next year!

One step closer to reality

So Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President Of The United States Of America. The biggest fuss over his election is the fact that he is of African-American descent, the first ever in presidential history. A historic landmark for sure, but the other issue I think is just as important, if not more is his lack of, or should I say, less-of religious belief, in both personal and political aspects. Most probably don’t know that Obama grew up with no religious beliefs, his mother had no religious ties and despite his father being raised as a muslim, eventually became an atheist.  Yes, that’s where the muslim connection came from and no he is not a muslim, not that it even matters. Obama has since aligned himself with the United Trinity Church of Christ, but a lot of that had to do with tradition in African-American culture. So with that being said, Obama is as close to a non-religious President since Thomas Jefferson who, while may or may not have been an atheist, certaintly questioned religion’s authority and was a strong proponent in maintaining seperation of Church and State in the U.S., which by the way is the only country in the world that maintains that to this day. After 8 years of Bush and his religiously driven foreign policy, even politically on the domestic side, it’s nice to know that we are a step closer to finally having a president that is not religious in motives, even if it’s still a long way to go.

Hitchens media blast

Christopher Hitchens in the news again, this time on the O’Reilly Factor except without Bill O’Reilly himself. In place of him is Laura Ingraham. Maybe it’s in the water coolers of the Fox news studio but this interviewer is just as ignorant as Bill himself. She attacks Hitchens in the intro and during the interview itself on Hitchen’s changing views, in particular the candidates for the 2008 US presidential elections. Hitchens has spoken out against both John McCain and Barack Obama on several issues at hand and Laura seems bewildered on why Hitchens now seems to support Obama after previously criticizing him in the past. Hitchens is known to be pro-war on the Iraq-Afghanistan situation, but what most don’t seem to understand is why. The reason is simple: Religion. Hitchens is a widely known and outspoken atheist, or should I say anti-theist. Hitchens will without hesitation criticize anyone who uses religion as a justified cause to infiltrate government bodies, and rightly so. After Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s running mate, Hitchens greased up the wheels and highlighted why she is not a great choice to even be in such a position. Read his article for Slate on this issue HERE It is interesting to note that Laura wears a symbolic religious cross around her neck during this interview, which would explain her lashout on Hitchens on the issue.

To Laura and those with the same view, to vote for someone just because they belong to a certain party or group does not mean you must stick with them no matter what they present to the public. If someone fucks up, makes a stupid decision eg making a religious nut your running mate, be prepared to look for other potential candidates to support. Hitchens has been smart enough to not align himself with a side or group these days, something which I now begin to identify with (thanx to George Carlin). It’s high school kid shit, people love to side with 1 another, seperate and categorize everything and that’s the problem with voters, especially in the US electorate system. Too many people too stubborn to change because they aligned themselves to 1 political party so therefore must be loyal. Loyalty has it’s place in life but not when making real decisions that can impact an entire country. Think with your head people, not with your heart. Otherwise we will have another mess like we have the last 8 years.

Watch the view interview below:

Which God?

This is from Yahoo news which originally came from a video posted on Wasilla Assembly of God’s Web site which in turn leaked around the net:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a “task that is from God.”

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it “God’s will.”

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

“Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God,” she said. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God’s plan.”

This is just downright scary and on top of that, very confusing to people who have a rational way of thinking, you know, normal people. My question is, how does she know this is god’s plan? Did god speak to these people and say go fight in Iraq? Doesn’t the same god also tell the Iraqi soldiers, al-qaeda and other terrorists fighting on the opposite side of the war to do the same thing, only against the United States? Am I missing something here or does this completely defy all logic? If you are going to fight a war, do it on your own convictions, do NOT say god is on your side. You have no proof that any god is on your side, it is basically a complete lie and yet people believe this shit. This whole situation is bizarre and not just in this case but in many cases where someone, especially in government where they claim god is on their side to win the war. Many times this has actually been said over many many years over many wars. Religious folk claim to be peaceful people and claim god is a loving caring all powerful being who loves all and yet is willing to side with 1 particular country to defeat and wipe out the enemy of another country. It is truly baffling that these people are allowed to walk the streets, let alone be allowed to be in places of power within the government. If there is a god, I sure as hell hope he ain’t listening to the prayers of these idiots.

Sumthin’ For Nuthin’

Christopher Hitchens latest article on slate.com touches on the creationist arguement, also known funnily enough as “intelligent design”. Anyone with a decent amount of common sense should know better but I suggest reading the following article for those that question why darwin matters: CLICK HERE.

Hypocritical a bit?

I have always said Metallica have the best fans in the world. And the worst. When it comes to critical opinions, Metallica fans voice their opinions like a motherfucker, good or bad. And sometimes the bad are just plain mean. But a lot of times I have to wonder if these same people actually think about what they say or really do see the glass half empty. Metallica finally revealed the new album cover for the upcoming new record “Death Magnetic” which is due for release sometime in September. Already the voices have come out criticizing the album cover for it’s blandness, it’s sexual connotations even though the intention of that farce was never there and the fact that it’s white. Let I remind you that these are the same people who also criticzed St. Anger for it’s harsh sound, yet 1988’s “…And Justice For All” album cover was white and the songs had horrible production and mixing and were similar in length and song structure. Hypocritical a bit?
Metallica fans have always been a bit hypocritical, from the blind sheep who refuse to have any dislike for what they do to those who haven’t liked anything they did since 1991. Now I’m a big fan of Metallica but accept the flaws they sometimes have that I see but always fully appreciate the good stuff that’s there. Their recent cover of Iron Maiden’s classic “Remember Tommorrow” was not to my taste, nor is Iron Maiden. But I accept what they are and what they do and that’s it. No expectations and no over-analyzing for ulterior motives or just plain bitching about it. And funnily enough, when I say I don’t like Iron Maiden, most generally seem to think I’m a crazy lunatic who has lost the plot. But turn it the other way around and say they are the crazy ones for not liking certain albums of Metallica or really, anything since 1991 and they’ll defend their criticisms with the tired old arguement of having the right to criticize or dislike what they want. Hypocritical a bit?
The recent fiasco of the reviews of the new album being pulled off the internet was quite interesting to say the least. And again, the termites came out of the wood-work like clockwork. For those that have been living under a non-digital rock, Metallica’s management invited a few journalists, magazine writers etc to come and listen to a few tracks off the new album. Days after the listening, reviews started appearing online, which is to be expected. All of a sudden, the reviews were pulled off the net by request from, funnily enough, Metallica’s management. The uproar eventuated into the usual “We Hate Metallica” bandwagon but even the loyal fans questioned this move. It later was revealed that management had indeed fucked up and Metallica themselves were unaware of the reviews being taken down. The same reviews were posted back up on the Official Metallica website by the request of the band. But the criticism of Metallica was basically the same shit. Metallica were anti-internet, anti-technology, anto this anti that which really derived from the Napster incident almost a decade ago. These are the same people by the way who think stealing is perfectly ok, as long as it’s on the internet, the pro-napster fuckheads who really have no argument to base their whingeing on. And yet they blindly pass over the fact that Metallica have been extremely good to their fans, the fanclub is top quality and they have made available their music online for quite some time. One only has to go to their official website to find various links to alternate official websites which offer entire live shows from their tours, video footage, websites that offer ringtone downloads, streaming music online, even a website dedicated entirely to the new album…the list goes on. So much for a band who is supposedly anti-internet. It really shits me that people are this stupid, ignorant and negative about anything Metallica, the same things that could actually be applied to other bands and yet receive no backlash at all. Hypocritical a bit?
It doesn’t bother me that people hate Metallica or just generally do not like certain things like album covers, song titles or whatever, people are entitled to their own opinions, but the reasons they give are such a joke it’s not even funny anymore. But hey, that’s just my opinion right?

Example of Torture

How does it feel to be “aggressively interrogated”? Christopher Hitchens found out for himself, submitting to a brutal waterboarding session in an effort to understand the human cost of America’s use of harsh tactics at Guantánamo and elsewhere. VF.com has the footage. Related: “Believe Me, It’s Torture,” from the August 2008 issue.

Thanx to The Hitchens Zone

The world has lost a genius

In a world of stupidity, it is so refreshing to see someone come along and put everything into perspective, to just kick some ass. George Carlin was that person, but unfortunately on Sunday he died. Most would say he “passed” away but Carlin was not a fan of euphemistic language, one of the many wonderful qualities he passed onto us.  I for one will severely miss him, he was such an inspiration on me and one of the major reasons this page even exists. R.I.P. Mr Carlin, the world will be a lot worse off without you, and I hope you enjoy your view of the world as it crashes into oblivion as you have so humorously been expecting.