John Edwards begins his trial
Get a load of this lede paragraph:
John Edwards "made a choice to break the law" by accepting illegal campaign contributions to hide his pregnant mistress from the public as he campaigned in 2007 to be the Democratic presidential nominee, prosecutors said Monday in the opening day of the former U.S. senator's criminal trial.Essentially, that is every country music song ever written, but classed up a bit. Would we all consider John Edwards to be such a douche bag if Elizabeth wasn't dying/died? Cheating is bad enough, but man... It's hard to have any sympathy for the guy when she was real sick. Spoiler alert: even if Edwards is found guilty of any of this shit, is that really going to change his life? He'll pay some fines, and that's about it. He's no Blagojevich. Really, I just wanted to type out "Blagojevich." Isn't that the bad guy in the Modern Warfare games? I don't care. Does anyone?
Buddha's Skull is on tour; Simple Plan is the opener
This is pretty rich. Millions of years from now, when we as a society have been mercifully swept from the planet, I wonder what future generations will take on tour. Buddha was a ostensibly a cool dude; he taught about being nice to others, pursuing knowledge, foregoing personal wealth, etc. All great character traits (unless you are an asshole). What does modern society have to offer? Those big bazookas used to fire t-shirts into crowds? That's awesome, but not exactly a legacy. I'll be dead, though. Who gives a shit?
Dutch Government Collapses
Fuck 'em. Fuckin' Dutch.
Secret Service Hooker Fiasco Blows Up In Face
What a lazy joke. I'm kind of surprised this is as big of a deal as it has become. Protecting government/public service official, especially in Columbia (which, according to all of the movies I've seen, is filled with guerrillas and drug kingpins), must be stressful. Are we really going to fault a guy for getting a BJ on the side? He should have just paid. When you find out the lady is hookin', you always pay. Trust me.
Stupid Assholes Insist on Bringing Video Games into Tragedy
You know what really grinds my gears? Shit like the above-mentioned article. The guy who perpetrated the Norway killings is a little crazy--you have to be, to just start killing people like that. I don't care if some court-appointed professional says "he is mentally fit to stand trial," if you kill a bunch of people, regardless of circumstance, you are fucking nuts. The fact that he played video games is immaterial, as everyone plays video games. Sure, some of the games he has played are violent, but all games are inherently violent; slapping balls around with pong paddles can be construed as a violent act. Pac-man eats ghosts all day long! Mario crushes anthropomorphic mushrooms! Angry Birds is a thinly-veiled allegory for the Holocaust, with birds as Nazis and pigs as jews! See, anyone can talk crazy shit about video games. I'll defend games because I think games are an interesting way to tell interactive stories and they get us to engage with difficult ideas in ways that movies can't. But regardless of that, to say--to even imply--that video games had some sort of impact on this awful event cheapens what happened. It's terrible that so many people died that day because of a crazy person. He was crazy. Blaming his intentions--again, even tangentially--on an entertainment medium is pretty disrespectful to the victims' families. Even by my fucked up standards.
Besides, nobody blamed Pilotwings for 9/11.
Until an asteroid,
Adam
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