Monthly Archives: February 2008

Straight from the office of Cole comes this official message:

I am going home. I don’t think I’ve really talked about that here. I took leave from March 16 – April 15 or so and I bought tickets to fly out from March 17 and fly back on April 5ish. I’ll be home for Easter.

I’m really excited to see Samantha. I keep dreaming about it. I dreamed I was home last night and she hugged and kissed me. )= I doubt she’ll do that right away as she’s always a little shy with me in the beginning of my visits but I hope to spend a lot of time with her as well as friends and family I haven’t seen in over a year.

New poll. Tell us about your criminal past or lack there-of.

I also updated the navigation to use acces keys and will be adding an article about HTML access keys soon. I’m constantly looking for ways to improve the accessibility of Her Realm and I hope this is a useful tool for people. Hovering over the links will show you the access key shortcut.

To access they, press Alt+ the access key in IE, Alt, Shift+ the access key in Mozilla/Firefox, Ctrl + the access key on a Mac, Or Shift, Escape + the access key in Opera.

I’ve added a legend page and here is also a legend to the access keys.

I must also report, with some that distress it appears my vote for the primaries will not be counted. )= I realized, too late, that I would not be able to send my ballot back in time for it to be counted. Furthermore, I’m pretty sure I didn’t even receive it in time to do so.

But, to add insult to injury, I found out there there was an online vote for the Democratic party through Democrats Abroad that I probably would have been able to take advantage of as it is made specifically for American citizens outside the country, like myself.

Had I realized this organization exist before January 31, I would have said “count me in.” Unfortunately, I didn’t hear anything like that nor did I see anything until after the fact. I would have been a nice thing for base officials to let us know about (I only registered for my absentee ballot after receiving a mass e-mail about sites that help with that.)

Pah! I sent my ballot off anyway. At least my state served me well and voted for Obama. d=

A few updates before I tackle a serious subject. There’s a few more links on the shopping page in the dark links section and a new song for download. I also added an article titled ‘What Is FTP?’ which answers that question! I also updated a bunch of links on the joined page.

I have never considered myself a racist. Generally, I don’t care what colour your skin it. I’ll notice, sure, but anyone who says they don’t is a liar. I could even be considered to be in biracial relationship but Ryan is a self proclaimed “whiteback.”

I am appalled by white supremacist groups like the KKK and the beliefs they tout. I’m ashamed they they teach this to their children. There’s no excuse for the hate crimes they commit. I cringe at racial slurs and do not use them except in jest with Ryan.

With that said, I do not think that the “white man” deserves all the “credit” for racism. I think part of the reason racism is so rampant today, especially against black Americans, is that some of them are supporting and even promoting it by their own attitudes and behaviour.

I will focus on black Americans here – they are a lot of racial stereotypes and, like all stereotypes, they are never completely true but they do indicate a grain of truth. Stereotypes would not exist if certain groups of people didn’t tend to do, say or think specific things. For instance, ebonics and the “ghetto lifestyle” are both common in black culture, to the point where this is often inaccurately assumed of all blacks.

Furthermore, both of these behaviours are negative, in my opinion, and generally causes others to look down upon black Americans. I die a little inside every time I hear someone talk in ebonics; this type of speech really makes people look ignorant and uneducated in my opinion and I know I’m not alone in that opinion.

These behaviours are largely among the black community only and they do set them apart from other races. While every race has characteristics that are particular to that race, it seems that black Americans are one of the few who display such prominently negative characteristics which make it hard to pinpoint the positive ones (which there are but it’s human to overlook those and focus on the negative).

Not only that, but black Americans will ostracize their friends and family who choose to rise above those cultural limitations. Often, members of the black community who have chosen to get a higher education or marry outside their race are shunned and consider traitorous for abandoning the black community rather than being happy for them.

Unfortunately, these negative behaviours are so ingrained in the community that it’s become a part of their heritage and roots.

This sheds a generally negative light on blacks and gives those, who would choose to do so, a platform to stand when it comes to stereotypes, hate and racism. I’m not a believer in assimilation by any means, but when you do something that makes you stick out in a negative way, people are going to use it against you.

And they do. There is definitely a backlash to this which does not work in the favor of black Americans. I believe modern racism is partly due to the fact that some blacks will act in a way that separates them from other races, especially whites.

And that’s when you hear groups complaining about the white man holding them down. I won’t say that this isn’t true to an extent but their own behaviours and attitudes also are a great contributing factor. Acting ignorant and uneducated is not going to further your position in life. People will continue to live with these attitudes and in the same conditions while blaming others for their problems like poverty and punishment for crimes rather than rising up, rebelling against negative cultural influences and actually making something of themselves!

Furthermore, there seems to be a mindset that all negative actions towards blacks are done because of skin colour. If you’re committing crime, you’ll be arrested, not because of your skin colour but because you should be. And while I believe that all races have criminals, the ghetto mindset certainly could be linked to an increase in crime among certain people.

I know a black man who once said “Black people have a different sense of humour than whites” to which a group of other blacks agreed. I’m sorry? I thought we were all equal. Why are you separating and degrading yourself so? Here I thought we were all just people, I guess I was wrong. Thanks for proving my point.

Yesterday was pretty busy but not too bad altogether. I’d stayed up all of Sunday night and Ryan and I took a nap together in the late morning/early afternoon. We awoke and did some much needed shopping – pants for me and groceries for us.

We’d planned to buy my plane tickets and tickets to DisneySea in April, but ITT must’ve been closed because of the holiday. President’s Day, was it? I hate gov’t holidays!

We wound up seeing Aliens Vs Predator 2 – wait! Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem. My bad. -rolls eyes-

Ryan liked this one a lot better than the original AVP and, for that, all I can say is I’m sorry. I’m sorry aliens, on behalf of the human race, for the horrendous atrocity that is this flick. I’m sorry humans, on behalf of Hollywood (of which I am not even a part!) for this atrocious waste of time we dare call a ‘movie.’ I’m sorry to the actors who are in such dire straights that they were forced to be in such a wreck! I’m sorry I wanted to see this more than Cloverfield. I was wrong. Deadly wrong.

Let me preface this review by saying I’ve only seen the original Alien, during which I fell asleep (sorry Ryan!) and I haven’t seen any of the Predators movie or AVP. It’s not that I don’t want to – I like a good flick like that sometimes; it’s just that all those movies are notoriously bad or known for being or an era of notoriously bad “horror” flicks.

Unsurprisingly, AVP bombed. I thought that it had a nice premise, as did many, many others but everyone was universally unimpressed, even appalled. Surprisingly, the previews for AVPR made it seem as though it were the redemption of the first. Although it wouldn’t make it any better, it might pave the way for a decent series. The previews lied but should be really be so surprised? Face offs like Freddy vs Jason were also notoriously bad!

For starters, the premise is pretty simple. Aliens, a viral like alien species whose strength lies in its numbers, have infected a predator, an advanced, humanoid alien species with computer technology, creating the “predalien” (though I think aliendor sounds better, whatever). The ship on which this happens crash lands on Earth. The predator hates aliens and now the spawn of both horrific species and is on the hunt for all aliens and the predalien.

But wait! Both forces kill humans. I bet you didn’t see that coming, did you?!

So this movie is about aliens creating more aliens by killing human hosts, aliens fighting the predator and subsequently dying, and the predator killing humans on his quest for supreme dominance (I guess? I mean, I get why he’s dead set against the aliens but maybe I should have watched the original Predator to understand just why he wants to kill us, too?) which ultimately involves his desire to kill the predalien. There’s some humans who want to live but that doesn’t seem likely.

This isn’t the kind of movie you expect to win an Oscar; it’s the type of movie you expect to have some nice fights, some blood (human and alien!), some explosions and lots of “shoot ’em up” scenes. Generally, the movie provides the viewer with all of that; however, it’s only the bare minimum. There could be more fighting, more shooting, more blood and bigger, better explosions!

Most of the fighting is one obviously superior side, usually the predator, against a foe that has no chance, frequently aliens and humans. The fighting is only exciting during the last 10 or so minutes of the movie where the predator faces off against the predalien.

The shooting and explosions are small uneventful, or as uneventful as explosions can actually be. I think our movie theatre did this no justice because the explosions were literally quieter than other sounds effects of the movie.

The humans, which start out a group of small townspeople, eventually dwindle away as aliens, the predator and predalien and other humans pluck them mercilessly from the land of the dead. This movie isn’t about them, I know, but I didn’t feel particularly attached to any of the humans, even the survivors (of course there are some), save for the little girl, some babies and the dog, who isn’t quite a person, as Ryan let me know.

In that note, I was slightly offended by how easily Hollywood writes off a whole nursery of babies (preadtor got ’em) and a wing of pregnant woman (aliens killed ’em and use ’em to spawn babies). I generally consider everyone an equal target but this made me uneasy, especially with how graphic it was when it came to the pregnant women. I guess this is to be expected but I would have preferred it otherwise. Ryan feels the pregnant women part, at least, shows how so many aliens spawned but I don’t think it was necessary to explain the number of aliens; there are so many because they spawn like a virus. It’s just what they do.

The script, as little as there was (I guess the predator doesn’t speak English and the aliens are just dumb) was forced and would have been better written by my 5 year old sister. I could say the script was “to the point” and “minimal” but I feel that would be giving it too much credit.

For instance, during a scene where the sheriff and his deputy our scouring the local forest after a human hand has been found the a dog, via radio. (Roughly, from memory)

Deputy: Anyone up at the point?
Sheriff: Yea, Buddy Benson’s car.
Deputy: Crap. He usually goes hunting with his kid.

It sets it up so the whole town can become worried about a dad and his kid but the viewer doesn’t care. In fact, we want them to die. That’s the point of this movie, isn’t it? My bone to pick is with the writing of the story. Finding the car is a bit cliche but I’ll let it pass. I cannot stand aside when the psychic deputy remembers that Buddy always goes hunting with his son. No creativity given to the lines, they’re just enough to get by and force a laugh out of you with the “strategically” placed jokes – like when they poke fun at the gov’t (the gov’t would never lie to us!).

It’s these same types of exchange which paint the town as a small American place with its local sheriff yet, when Buddy and his son go missing, the mother/wife has to post up signs and show people her family. If it’s a town as small as they try to portray, would this be necessary?

But it must be small considering how fast they move from one place to another. It’s quite disorienting how the scenes jump from setting to setting and it’s clear this town is about as well thought out as the rest of the movie. It might help show that the predator is a skilled and sentient hunter, or it might just make you busy.

The special effects? Not so special. Period. Explosions too small.

As a final thought, I found that all the monsters blended in. The predator was easiest to recognize with his hardware but all the aliens and the predalien looked alike. I was never quite sure whether the predator was fighting just another alien or the super creature.

My final thoughts? Skip it. You won’t be scared or on the edge of your seat. You won’t see any great fights, and there’s only 1 decent one. The script is poor and matches the acting resulting in characters with whom the audience feels no connection. The effects are boring, nothing spectacular. Nothing in this movie stands out, it is all around mediocrity and will soon be forgotten like most movies.

I haven’t much discussed the election and presidental candidates here but I have been thinking about it and following it (although not as closely as I should). I made my decision to back Obama quite a while ago, for several reasons including his track record of accomlpishments despite his short time in office and young age.

Obama recently pulled ahead of Clinton in the race which gives me hope that he can be the Democratic candidate. The numbers were close, with Clinton leading my a small margin for most of the race and although Obama is now ahead, I don’t want to count my eggs before they hatch; he’s only ahead by a tiny margin.

I’m also excited because I received my absentee ballot last night. I was afraid I’d signed up too late because my local ballot arrived the other day by itself but it just took longer for my primary ballot.

I wonder how many people here have signed up for absentee ballots? Ryan hasn’t. Tsk.