Comedy genius, or batshit insane?

someone give andy samberg an award for rhyming ‘sawer’ with ‘horror’

How tragic the weight of the ground we’ve lost.

NOTA BENE:  The sole opposition to the advancement of equal rights in our country is and always has been driven by the ignorance bred of the disease we call “religion.” This threat is a mind virus highly resistant to rational thought and reason, yet we choose to pamper it with tax-exemption, charity and extraordinary cirumstances. Blurg. I am suddenly reminded of Christopher Hitchens’ rhetorical challenge posed to those of faith:

“Name one moral act or moral statement that could not be made by a non-believer.”

and conversely,

“Name any immoral act that could only be made by a religious believer.”

Those who possess even the slightest capacity for critical thinking will immediately recognize that the first question has no correct answer, whereas the second’s answer is true in a seemingly immeasurable number of cases. Such a realization is quite depressing….

If you affiliate with or support any of the organizations responsible for the recent retrogression of equal rights here in California then i would implore you to reflect upon the relevance and resemblance that our current conflict shares with the innumerable past struggles overcome by countless other minorities throughout American history. The present scenario is no different; it will undoubtedly end with the same maturation of existential wisdom and humanistic ideals that have been forged by its predecessors.  The inferior school of thought will once again be extinguished in favor of truth: oppressive ideals founded on ignorance and bigotry will inevitably succumb to the atrophy induced by the continual advancement of logical and scientific truth. It’s simply a matter of time.

The lesson that will be conveyed after this victory will similarly be no different from the foreshadowing of its seemingly precognitive counterparts : Open-mindedness and critical skepticism are they keys to knowledge, wisdom and enlightenment. Closed-mindedness and blind faith are the keys to ignorance, naiveity and confusion.

Do your beliefs provide the right key?

EDIT: I wrote to Jerry the following:

Hi Jerry,

I recently had the pleasure of viewing the video of your press conference from Sept 22, 2007 concerning your decision to support the gay marriage resolution being considered at the time. It appears that I’m a bit late in imparting my congratulations in this case, but better late than never I suppose. Anyway, I simply wanted to express how incredibly proud of you I am for your willingness to embrace critical thinking, open-mindedness and rationality in your decision to support the gay marriage resolution. I’d also like to express my utmost respect for your inspiring and courageous words while standing up against those who seek to oppress others based solely on their own fears and insecurities.

 

I sincerely hope that the unfortunate passage of Proposition 8 will be met with a passionate resistance and will face opposition until the end. I await with open arms the day on which the last of our civilization achieves the enlightenment required for peaceful coexistence. Perhaps such a time remains quite far from our own personal grasp, yet in contrast to the magnitude of our history it’s quite a bit easier to consider that such hopes might soon be realized in nothing more than a single heartbeat of our universe.

 

Once again, I’d like to express my utmost respect. Continue to follow your heart.

 

Take care,

- Brendan Seaman

http://www.commandervideo.com/

 

3. You Don’t Want DRM – You Want Services

As piracy grows ever easier, and as users become more and more vocal about the measures publishers take to try and stop it — witness the Spore DRM controversy – the appeal of user-friendly DRM lumped into a subscription service seems like the best solution.

After all, very few players complain about the fact that World of Warcraft is tied to a unique account that costs a constant $15 per month fee to keep playable — because that’s the very point of the game. 

But even for games that don’t require online interaction, the tied-to-an-account model can work a charm: Valve’s Steam service is typically extremely well-regarded, thanks to its selection of games, its appealing community features, and most recently, the addition of its Steam Cloud service.

This makes online integration all the more relevant, as user data is stored on servers and accessible on any PC the player logs into. Surely, providing a tangible benefit for users to tie themselves to a verification system is the way to make to help the copy protection-related medicine go down?

 

The DRM machine’s face-palm-inducing obliviousness to the universal repudiation that surrounds it is a phenomenon that defies comprehension. Invoking the “draconian” label in its characterization is now not only acceptable but thoroughly appropriate.

Traditional rights management approaches have proven themselves ill-equipped to contend with the untouchable and unknowable force to which they stand opposed: a rogue army of highly skilled black hats and scenesters of whom the majority are driven purely by ego and the pride of victory.

Any notion that these sides are equally matched is simply laughable when the entire history of the conflict can quite accurately be described as a lopsided slaughter of the DRM camp through the systematic circumvention and nullification of not most but all of its efforts since the beginning.

4. Downloadable Content – A Cure For All Game Ills?

Whether or not GameStop’s management wants to admit it, many developers and publishers consider the used game market to be, well, less than benevolent. Whether it should or can be stamped out completely is not the issue; few would disagree that at least discouraging players from selling games back quickly is a good idea. 

One of the best current tools for doing so is downloadable content — or as Xbox Live group program manager Alvin Gendrano put it at Microsoft’s GameFest this year, “Using [premium DLC] we can keep your games being used over a long time. The longer your users play your titles, the less chance they give those titles away to retailers and sell them for used.” 

Moreover, stats Gendrano released suggest that games with strong DLC retain their market value for longer: “Games with PDLC were still selling for $59 in [the second quarter of their release lifespans]; those without were selling for $56.” And Microsoft’s Gears of War 2 recently took a new tactic; it shipped with one-time-use coupon for free DLC that can only be downloaded by the initial purchaser.

Perhaps the boldest mover in this space, however, is EA’s Criterion studio, which has launched the “Year of Paradise” initiative for the company — its Burnout Paradise, which was first released in January, is still receiving substantive free DLC on a regular basis, with its first paid pack, Big Surf Island, coming approximately one year after the game’s retail release.

As a developer I passionately support the philosophy of extending product life for disc-based media so long as the application of said philosophy acts to add value to the product rather than impose restrictions upon the consumer.

The restrictive methods are manifest through requirements such as “online account <-> product key” registration, MAC address binding and hardware data-mining,  all of which seek to prevent resale of the product. Unfortunately such techniques work only to damage the image of the cause for which they are designed. The rights of the consumer in regard to purchased software are in many cases still open to interpretation, and the right to resale is highly dependent on those interpretations.

On the other hand, adding value to a product over time (as in the case of DLC) relies on persuasion and appeal instead of force. The consumer is given options rather than denied them. It is then in the developer’s best interest to ensure that those options are in fact appealing, and as a result both parties are better off to some degree.

However, there is also the unfortunate case of developers intentionally omitting content for use as DLC… but I won’t get into that right now.

SACRAMENTO, CA—Activists on both sides of the gay marriage debate were shocked this November, when a typographical error in California’s Proposition 8 changed the state constitution to restrict marriage to a union between “one man and one wolfman,” instantly nullifying every marriage except those comprised of an adult male and his lycanthrope partner. “The people of California made their voices heard today, and reaffirmed our age-old belief that the only union sanctioned in God’s eyes is the union between a man and another man possessed by an ungodly lupine curse,” state Sen. Tim McClintock said at a hastily organized rally celebrating passage of the new law. But opponents, including Bakersfield resident Patricia Millard—who is now legally banned from marrying her boyfriend, a human, non-wolfman male—claim it infringes on their civil liberties. “I love James just as much as a wolfman loves his husband,” Millard said. “We deserve the same rights as any horrifying mythical abomination.” On the heels of the historic typo, voters in Utah passed a similar referendum a week later, defining marriage as between one man and 23 wolfmen.

- via The Onion

SAN JOSE, CA—According to sources, either a listener of local Spanish-language radio program Mañana Gigante con Luis y Moon Dog has just won some sort of promotional contest by being the 14th caller or the entire radio station is currently engulfed in flames. Protracted screams of “aye, aye, aye, muy caliente!” and “en fuego!” could be heard on the broadcast of either the celebratory exultation or out-of-control blaze, and were accompanied by the sounds of loud sirens, breaking glass, and dogs barking. As of press time, no emergency vehicles have been dispatched to the scene, and several witnesses have reportedly turned the dial to classic rock station 101.9 the Eagle just in time to catch the solo of either “War Pigs” or “Iron Man.”

- via The Onion

I have to admit that I feel a bit sorry for the caller. Judging by his emotional and self-assuring tone of voice I’d wager that his argument was formed as a coping mechanism meant to fill the sudden gap in logical understanding introduced by the highly improbable (and obviously quite emotional) event he experienced. Unfortunately his emotions most likely trumped reason in his decision to assert this belief as a scientific proof, and I don’t think he fully understood what he was getting himself into. 

garfield minus garfield

a scary act /

all black like miss Mary Mack/

Wait till’ you see him live on the piano /

Doom sings soprano like ‘uno dos y’ano’ /

My momma told me /

Blast him and pass her that glass of Old E /

Not to be troublesome /

But I sure could use a quick shot of double rum /

No stick of bubble gum /

I like ice cream /

You could skip the wedding /

Have a nice dream /

She only let him stick the head in /

Madvillain

MF/Madlib Mavillain

if you’ve never heard this album then you need to get with the fuckin’ program son.

remixed version just released!!!!!!

Madvillainy Remixes

COP IT! NOW!!!

current cd’s got some sick cuts. above song is apparently coming on the next cd.

Ronald Jenkees

check it here

isn’t that the raddest CD cover ever??

get the goods here

album site and myspace

Incredible