I’ll Miss You

Samira Mikeal. Died 2006 December 04 9:30 A.M.- 11:20 A.M.

I love you Grandma

A Little Rap, With Some of This, Some of That

Rap, why is it that it get’s such a bad reputation amongst so many people? I personally love Rap music. And yes it is a form of music. Now let me get across that I am not defending the stuff that is on the radio today. The “Lean back in my white tee while I shine my grill with my lovely lady lumps” bullshit that is on today makes me want to punch someone. I’m talking about the oldschool rap. Eminem when he first came out, Dr. Dre when he first came out, The Wu-Tang Clan, Easy E, Too $hort just to name a few. These are the rappers who really made songs you could bob your head to. They made songs you could enjoy and laugh at. And at the same time they made songs that were down to earth, songs with messages, and songs that made you sad. All of these combined make great music.

I don’t only listen to rap, personally I like all kinds of music aside from Death Metal (Then again I haven’t listened to much). It infuriates me when people dismiss rap immediatly just because they think another form of music is better. Even the songs out today, consider this. All music that makes it to the radio has to be good to a certain number of people. Unless the DJ is an idiot playing some garage band you know that the music is somewhat “tested” by everyone who enjoys it. Take the time and listen to it, you’ll see why it made it to the radio, even if you don’t like it.

If you took the time and took things into consideration you could like all music, even rap. Then in that perfect world I wouldn’t have to listen to all of you talk about how much it sucks. Let me bring up the arguments many people have against rap, and try to counter them. If you have any more, please tell me.

“They aren’t even singing.” Who is to say what singing is exactly then? I could take rock music and say it is just a bunch of yelling mixed with the sound of the guitar. I could take all forms of metal and say it’s just people talking in deep low voices quickly. It’s a matter of taste. I believe those that can ryhme so well and so fast are singing. Have you ever tried rapping? Take a good rap song and record yourself singing along to it, you’ll sound like a fool, because you don’t have the singing talent to keep up. Rappers are singing.

“It’s all about I f’d your mom this and I f’d your mom that.” Oh yeah, that’s one hundred percent true! And country music is all about beating wifes, and rock music is all about hitting a high note and then screaming about your emotions. And death metal is all about who can cut one’s self faster then the other! This is a stereotype stupid! I dare you to prove that right. I dare you to take all rap and show me it’s all about sex. You’re ignorant because you choose to be ignorant of it. By not even listening to it. As soon as the music shows up you change the station. If you have any way of aquiring it go download the song “Tearz” by the Wu-Tang Clan. The song has a balance of the stereo type and what rap really is. Pay attention to the lyrics, it’s a great song.

I’m letting off a little steam on this entire topic. If you have anything else against rap, please comment. If I get enough i’ll make a part two responding to all the criticsm.

It’s Hard To Admit You’re Wrong

 (First off i’m going to stop doing the whole song title thing, it’s hard to think of them)

 Next generation console systems have been on everyone’s mind for the past couple of months now haven’t they? And who has lost it’s reputation, luster, and sheen with the majority of nerds on the internet? Sony, that’s who.

Now i’m not saying that Sony is done for. If you go outside, you know, into the sunlight. You’ll find people who hardly game but still support Sony. The thing is, Sony’s six-hundred dollar price tag isn’t really helping them or their fans.

Now to what this post is about, I have to admit I was wrong. Sony has gone and fucked up. I realized it when I was listening to a certain Extralife Radio (extraliferadio.com), specifically episode 59, I grew frustrated with Sony and the entire DRM and Rootkit business.

Up until now this is what I had believed in. Sony’s PS3 will not suck. It will just take a year or so for them to work out minor bugs and start the good games rolling out. Does anyone remember when the Xbox 360 came out? Okay, good. Now do you remember the palpable flames of hatred that you could feel coming from 98% of the internet!? No system launch aside from a Nintendo one ever works well. Sony knows what it’s doing and in a year the PS3 will be as sweet as the Xbox 360 is now.

What changed in that paragraph? “Sony knows what it’s doing…” Sony’s company is a cocky son of a bitch. I swear if they got rid of the unnecisarry marketing group, and the CEO’s and president’s the PS3 would have never looked bad. These are the people that go out there and say stupid things. These are the people that decide that the RIAA is a good thing. Good god no it’s not, if I am ever forced to pirate a game I bought i’m writing hateful letters to the company and demanding something in return. Because that’ll work. Next time a game dosen’t work for you contact the company you are frustrated with, you may get something in return. To be off topic the same works (not with video game companies) when you send them nice mail. Send it to a Lays company, you might get a few bags of Lays in the mail later.

Anyway! Not to leave this post entirely one sided, let me talk about the Nintendo Wii. First off, I don’t hate the controller, I just believe it is underwhelming. I have yet to use it, but it really seems gimmicky. And I absolutely hate gimmicks. I use a freaking mouse and keyboard for half of my games, I don’t feel as if controllers need to be revolutionized as many do. Many believe that it is fresh and intuitive, which it is! But many make it out as neccisary because the game industry has become so convoluted with the same old, same old. Which it has, but not with controllers for crap’s sake!

On another note, here are my thoughts on how the Wii is going to turn out. It may likely exceed selling 4 Million copies. And Nintendo is probably going to be extremelly rich. I’m not talking about profit here, I want to talk about entertainment value. People are already bringing up the fact that the games feel like party games. I believe the Nintendo Wii is going to become Twister. You bring it out when you have 1 or more person come over and have a blast. Then when they leave it collects dust. Many have the counter argument that there are video games like The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess that’ll be played by the more hardcore crowd.

Yes it shall, and so will Mario, and so will Metroid. But that’s it. That’s what has always bugged the hell out of me with Nintendo products. You have games you play when your friends come over, but when they aren’t you play Zelda/Mario/Metroid. And then when you beat those you wait for the next Zelda/Mario/Metroid game to come out! Those games are excellent, I know. But I want a system that has more then just the same game coming out again and again. That’s why the PS2 did so well even after the Xbox and Gamecube came out. Because it had Rachet & Clank, God of War, Okami. All these varied titles. Xbox was a Sports Center, and Gamecube was a Suck Center. The only thing that saved it was Mario/Zelda/Metroid, which wasn’t enough for me. But then Resident Evil 4 came out for it. Which was a smooth move on them I can admit.

I’m rambling, but it’s my blog so I guess I can do that. Let me get the final point across. The Nintendo Wii underwhelms me and the Sony PS3 underwhelms me. Currently the only console out there worth it is the Xbox 360. But you know what? In a year my mind will have changed, that’s how the game industry works. We all know that’s how it works, yet we still all act like fools each time it happens.