Happy Doomsday!

It has been a busy last few weeks. With finals done with, attending Avery and Dan's wedding, getting Michelle on the plane to Hawaii, and the end of the world planned for today, I've been busy. While it makes a good excuse for me not posting in a while, some of us are left wondering what happened-- why are we still here?

For those who don't know the back-story, Harold Camping of Family Radio predicted the second coming of Jesus to be today, May 21st. Of course there are always people telling us when our demise is going to happen, but this is different; millions of dollars have been spent to communicate the message, and some have even believed it too. Now they're still waiting, and Camping is nowhere to be found. Who is to blame for all of this? None other than the one and only Macho Man Randy Savage.

One of the probable depictions of Savage's encounters
with Jesus.  Image via Reddit.

Just yesterday, May 20th, wrestler Randy Savage died in a car accident. He was a legendary superstar in the world of wrestling entertainment. Was his death, one day before the declared rapture, a coincidence? I think not. Savage was well aware of forthcoming atrocities, and gave his own life so that he could save us all. What exactly happened in the heavens above is still unknown, but is likely to be revealed in further revelation. Savage and god may have settled matters peacefully over a cup of coffee, or maybe there was a pile-driver or two. Regardless, life would not continue to go on if Macho Man Randy Savage didn't make the greatest sacrifice. If it wasn't for this much appreciated intervention, I'm sure we would have seen the fire in the sky; the evidence is clear as daylight.

Aside from the few who actually believed it, the rest of us are happily proclaiming, 'I told you so!' There's a lot for us to buy into: fake miracles, superstitions, political propaganda. It's always a good day to reconsider why we believe the things we do, whether it's things we willingly accept or choose to ignore. In one way or another we are all a part of the scam, but thanks to Randy Savage, we'll live another day to live and fight it.

ROSVO, Ticks and Ants EP-- My Impressions

ROSVO is a new band from Sweden featuring Peter Dolving-- Yes I've been mentioning him a lot, but he's everywhere! The sound of ROSVO is kind of like a cross between Deftones and Baroness, but a lot heavier and with a sort of punk influence. They released a four track EP very recently, and I wanted to talk a bit about it.

I give credit to this EP for it having a unique sound and being quite technical. However, the songs are over before you can really start getting into them. My personal favorite, Seasick, is the shortest song-- only lasting 2:10. These short track lengths don't make the songs bad; it just makes it harder to justify making the purchase.

Overall, my feelings towards this EP are neutral. The songs are very good, but don't last long. For that reason, I can't get into it as much as I can with a regular album or a set of progressive rock songs. I appreciate it for what it is though, and if you are into metal, you should too. Check out their bandcamp page where you can listen to all of the songs and buy them for download.

Update

I've been very busy with next week being finals week, and I apologize to anyone who reads my blog and has noticed that I've slowed down. Before I noted that I was going to host a few interviews, and I'd like to reveal that for the last week I've been talking with some really smart people to make a video about 'belief.' This is a final assignment of my writing class, but I decided to put a little extra effort into something I can be proud of. My video will be complete by this coming Wednesday, so I hope you come back to this blog to check it out.

To provide you with something to look at, I wanted to post something I made and submitted on Reddit. Just recently, the site went into a 'read-only' mode for almost two days because of a mishap with Amazon cloud. During that time I hastily Photoshopped a picture, hoping that a lot of people would see it and like it. Unfortunately, I am now in question about if people think I am actually funny or not. Here is the picture; and just for reference, the orange and blue arrows symbolize people up-voting or down-voting content on Reddit.

Click To Enlarge

Like always, I'll be frequently posting my thoughts on music and entertainment-- I'm pretty excited for the new Irepress album to come out. If you want me to share my opinion on a philosophical or maybe even a current issue topic, then leave a request. I have some plans though, and hopefully I'll be picking the pace up again soon.

Mortal Kombat Game Review

I grew up playing fighting games. From Justice League Task Force and Street Fighter 2 on the Super Nintendo, to Fighters Destiny on the N64-- it was a great genre back then. With the coming of the last and current generation of consoles, I couldn't help but notice that fighting games have failed to evolve to a standard that their respective specifications have allowed them to. With the exception of Super Smash Bros, fighting games have done nothing but move onto a broken 3D plane and improve a bit graphically. However, when I saw some of the gameplay from the development of Mortal Kombat last year, I was instantly curious if this new installment to the series would add what was lacking to all the fighting games of the past decade. I hope to unravel just that in this game review.

When Mortal Kombat came into the spotlight, the developers had made it clear that this new game would serve as a tribute to the original MK series first released in 1992; it would be brought back to the 2D plane and embrace the brutality that that previous games in the series strayed away from. Mortal Kombat stayed true to their mission statement-- over-the-top fatalities are back, which will leave you in excitement or disgust (depending on your perception of 'bad taste'). All of the stages are remakes from the first three games as well, and some of these stages also have their own fatalities that play off of the surrounding environment. There is also an extensive character list, with future DLC confirmed.

Long Distance Calling, Self Titled-- My Impressions

About three years ago I discovered the post-rock genre-- what was to me a hidden gem, something that is rare at best if found at a retail music store. Post-rock is dominantly instrumental, and goes without the structured form in many of today's songs. Instead it produces a texture-- a sort of sound-scape that flows and typically has an ambiance to it. The range of sounds is very broad in post-rock, from soft acoustics to jazz, electronic, metal, and experimental. The band Long Distance Calling has heavy undertones, but doesn't restrict itself to one sound, exemplified by their newest self-titled album that came out late last March.

Long Distance Calling is a fairly new band. They formed in 2006 in Germany, and in total released three full length albums. Every album they produce features a different guest vocalist for one track, including Peter Dolving from The Haunted on Satellite Bay, and Jonas Renkse from Katatonia on Avoid The Light. Their newest album hosts John Bush on the song Middleville, and really complements the sound well. The chorus is explosive and catchy, and makes for a good song and contrast from the rest of the album.

The standout track on this album is 'The Figrin D'an Boogie'. This song evolves perfectly and unexpectedly, while nailing the dynamics as always. More interestingly, it incorporates a blues style in the song which comes out great. There is a hint of jazz influence in some of the other songs, but you have to look for it. All around it is a great album.

Like all bands of this kind, you should listen to them differently than you would listen to something on the radio. Listen with headphones, or play it through some good speakers. Long Distance Calling and bands alike are more focused on the timbre and song structure than the repetition and emphasis on voice in other genres. The tracks can be a bit lengthy, but it is a part of the beauty of the art in progressive and post-rock.

The Verdict:
Great guest vocalist -- Unexpectedly jazzy -- Will satisfy old and new fans

Listen to the album here and tell me what you think.

What's Next

It's been a little over a week since I started this blog, and so far so good. Currently I'm looking up how to add separate subscription feeds for each one of my categories (or labels), so people can subscribe to only the feeds they are interested in. It might not be possible to do, but we'll see.  I also changed my blog name to something a little more straightforward; previously it was 'A Person With Arms', and I don't want people to think I'm poking fun at amputees or something bizarre like that. So there you have it! Here are some of the things that I have planned for future content:

• Some interviews with a few interesting people
• A guest writer
• Possibly a debate review of Lawrence Krauss vs William Craig (March 30th, 2011)
• Reflection on some newly discovered albums that blew me away
• A couple philosophy topics that really hit home to me this semester at school
• A review of the newly rebooted Mortal Kombat game

If you have any suggestions, I'd be happy to consider them, so leave a comment below! Thanks for reading.

Mine, then craft, then mine, then craft, then LUNCH! Then mine, then craft . . .

If you were like me, you've probably heard of Minecraft before, but didn't quite understand what the hype was all about. Let me tell you, reader-- believe the hype. The premise seems repetitive and mundane on the surface, but dig a bit deeper (pun intended) and you will find something more. Whether you are set out to survive, or to build creatively, the sky is the limit (another Minecraft pun) with what you can do here.

At first glance, the pixelated and chunky graphics might be a turn-off, but in time the visuals become a part of the game's charm. You play from a first person perspective, using WSAD keys to move, and using a very simple control scheme. The controls and the look are completely modifiable, and you can browse through a nice list of user created texture packs if you don't like the default look.

An example of a structure you can build in Minecraft

Is Good From God? [Debate Review]

It is hard to give an unbiased review of the debate between Sam Harris and William Craig. It is even harder to find one-- do a quick search and you will be bombarded with sites and blogs promoting either christian apologetics or atheism, making personal attacks against both contestants. Taking a stroll into a idealist's war-zone, I chose to start with this debate because I neither agree wholly with Harris' nor Craig's philosophies. They are both moral objectivists, arguing if an ethical good can exist naturally or only supernaturally. Harris takes on the stance that maximizing human well-being is the greatest good, and it can be determined by science and logic. Craig's stance defends his views that good is authoritative and comes from god. It is important to remember that this was not a debate concerning the existence of a god, or any evidence for it. I recommend that you watch or listen to the debate yourself, but if you don't have time (it's long), you can view my notes of the debate here.

In Craig's introduction, he merits Harris on his stance that objective moral values exist and offers up two contentions. He says if god exists, then there is a sound foundation for objective moral values and duties. Secondly, if god does not exist, then we do not have this foundation. Craig claims that this is Harris' "value problem," and that Harris simply redefines good and evil by non-moral terms. He puts this idea together with his second contention, and underlines this as one of his biggest points of the debate, accusing Harris of circular logic-- maximizing well-being is good because he defines good as maximizing well-being.

William Craig (left), Sam Harris (right)

Harris' introduction more or less doesn't directly address the question at hand, and he later strays away from the argument more and more throughout the debate. I observe that what Harris is trying to do is build more of a credibility for his standpoint. Largely he speaks in comparisons; one example shows well-being is similar to health; "The distinction between a healthy person and a dead one is about as clear and consequential as any we make in science." He highlights his idealism with a very imperious statement: "If you think the worst possible misery isn't bad, or that there is a silver lining, or that maybe there is something worse, I don't know what you are talking about. And what is more, I'm not sure you know what you are talking about either."

The Haunted, Unseen-- My Impressions

I won't pretend that this is a review; this is a flat-out promotion and worship of the latest album of The Haunted that came out late last month. I can't hide my biases in that this has been one of my favorite bands through my high school years and still now at this point in my life. These feelings don't go by unjustified though, so let me tell you why:

Unseen is a very daring album and really reflects the confidence that The Haunted has in themselves and their identity when producing this record. There is a considerable amount of fans that criticize this album for drifting away from the thrash-metal roots of The Haunted's earlier releases, but this in no way makes Unseen any less of a masterpiece. Every song on this record has a distinct sound, which is a feat in itself when making such a great sounding listening experience. For this reason alone, it is hard to pick out the stand-out tracks. I have personal favorites such as No Ghost and Motionless, but it is truly a subjective opinion when it comes to dissecting the record song by song.

Peter Dolving (vocals) is at his best in Unseen. He has always been able to deliver a intense emotional voice and message in everything he ever touched, especially when The Haunted started experimenting with their sound with The Dead Eye album. Unseen has a great sing to scream ratio as well, and really narrows in on the intensity when it is due, making an all the more dynamic experience. In an interview with Metal Sickness, Dolving answered the question regarding the meaning of the album's title, Unseen:

"Look at us! All of us, going along with the everyday stride, everyone like good little puppets on a string, dancing to the tune of the piper. We keep justifying what we all feel frustrated and unhappy about. At the center of an entire civilization is a deep-rooted dissatisfaction. We claim we don't want to be mere cogs in a machine we claim to dislike. We have a thousand excuses as to why, and a thousand ways to escape our drab gray realities. Yet we all know. We really really know what is wrong, and what keeps us complacent. We just don't have the guts to turn the lights on to look at it."

This response echo's through the album, and is not only emotionally provocative like past releases, but also emotionally satisfying as he alludes to a sense of hope not present before-- "Until we shine the light of truthful loving trust, it's never going to change."

You can stream Unseen here. If you enjoy it, I highly recommend buying a copy.

The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle

If you are into video games and you haven't heard of the Humble Indie Bundle, you've been missing out. The Humble Bundles are a limited time packaging of video games developed by independent game developers, released to the public on a 'name your price' basis. All of the bundles are cross platform and DRM free, making the process virtually painless.

The latest promotion, The Humble Frozenbyte Bundle, is a set of five games made by the Frozenbyte developer. Three of them are full games which include Trine, Shadow Grounds: Survivor, and Shadow Grounds. It also includes a prototype called Jack Claw, which needs an Xbox 360 controller to play, and is only playable on Windows. Lastly, you receive a free pre-order of a game in development called Splot.

While the previous promotions have been widely accepted as very successful, this bundle still has thirteen days left to go and is looking very promising. Proceeds go either to the developers, charities such as Child's Play and EFF, or any combination of the three. The full package is valued somewhere around $50, so virtually everyone wins if you give your $5-$10 to a good cause.



For more details on the games, and more information in general visit http://www.humblebundle.com/