Street Philosophy Volume 2
Life is a tough thing for most people to live, but at the same time we often forget that there are many people out there with problems far worse than the ones we are currently dealing with. It is truly learning this that gives an individual a sense of humility and removes any absurd thoughts of suicide. I’m sure we’ve all seen Sally Struthers talk about how penny’s a day can save people, but that’s not the point of my monologue.
The real point is the fact that there is a balance in the personality and actions of human beings. We were all given the gift of free choice. While that doesn’t necessarily guarantee freedom without repercussion, it does give each individual person the ability to live their lives how they choose too. This separates us from animals which have their mindsets and goals primarily set on reproduction. While humans may not differ too much from that mindset, we have to live alongside, talk to, and mingle with the humans that exist around us and in our lives.
We all have the ability to affect the lives of those people in a positive or negative way. The point is to be empathetic. Nothing good can come out of purposely hardening the lives of those around you. Everyone has problems, don’t escalate anyone else’s, it’s just cruel and unjust. The person whose life you choose to make worse can turn to harsh thoughts and lash out destructively hurting themselves and others around them. This would make you the cause of more pain and inevitably part of their problems.
Most people are taught from a young age, through both religion and manners to treat our fellow man/woman equally. This is often referred to as the Golden Rule. Whether or not you are religious isn’t as important as just being a good person. Regardless of any religious beliefs, most religions follow the same basic principals of how we as humans should behave toward other humans, those beliefs became the basis of law, and in turn became the moral standards most people follow.
Racism, Sexism, any sort of prejudice is unjust. We all have to right to be here. Things change over time, beliefs are skewed and morals are forgotten. As people we are betrayed time and again by those around us. The world is a dark and cold place, but within everyone is the latent capacity for good, and most people will act on that. It’s always a good idea to say you’re sorry, to forgive, and to be nice to those around you. You only get one life to live, and you might as well live it without enemies, and live it as happily as you can.
Obscurities- Brutal Legend
Okay, this is getting ridiculous. For those of you who don’t know Brutal Legend is a proposed game by game design legend Tim Schafer and his Double Fine production team. The game is supposed to be a complete tribute to Heavy Metal. The lead character is a roadie for the band Brutal Legend who comes across a powerful mask which sucks him into a world full of norse mythology references, demon wings, half-naked ladies, and literal face-melting guitar rifts. The main character is supposed to be voiced by Jack Black, the soundtrack is supposed to be stacked with the works of MotorHead and Ronnie James Dio and the gameplay ideas are supposed to be fresh.
Everything Schafer has done is cursed with being great games nobody played, so I suppose that’s the fear publishers have with picking up this masterpiece in the making. But COME ON! What about that synopsis doesn’t sound completely awesome?! You can melt peoples faces with guitar rifts, recruit an army of followers and kick ass in your Mad-Max style automobile.
The complaint I have is no publisher seems to want this game. Activision Blizzard tossed it out, but kept Spyro the fucking Dragon! Spyro’s games were irrelevant years ago. Then people suggested MTV’s Game Publishing company pick it up. This is an awesome idea, they could promote it, make sure Schafer gets all the Metal he wants for the soundtrack and put out likely one of the best games of 2009, but no they wish him luck. Seriously if this game dies due to lack of publishing funds I officially give up my faith in the industry. How do schlock like the entire Imagine series get out the door fine, but Schafer (creator of Psychonauts, Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, Escape from Monkey Island and pretty much any other good adventure game Lucas Arts used to publish before they switched completely to Star Wars games) has to struggle to find backing. Someone good publish this, seriously.
Obscurities- The Two New Children’s Television Cartoons worth Watching
Today, unlike when I was growing up, kids don’t seem to have the same level of entertaining cartoons to watch. Growing up watching Rocko’s Modern Life and Doug, I feel today’s youth doesn’t have the same quality programming. However after viewing most of the modern cartoons I found 2 new shows I enjoy. There are a few gems that have been on the air for a while, Spongebob Squarepants and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends are good choices for kids and adults, but I won’t include them because they have been on for a few years now.
The two shows that have recently premiered on Cartoon Network, Chowder and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, are the two gems I have seen in modern kids cartoons. For those of you who haven’t seen them, you are missing out on bizarre and often gross-out humor that harkens back to Ren and Stimpy but is performed with more class.
Chowder is an odd little story about a master chef who fancies himself a ladies man, Mung Daal, and his apprentice the title character and odd little fellow with an insurmountable appetite, Chowder. They live with Mung Daal’s nagging short-tempered wife Truffles and his journeyman chef and resident rock-monster Shnitzel whose entire set of dialogue consists of the word “radda.” For its odd quirk the show is funny and highly entertaining. Consisting of a variety of animation styles including puppets and masking patterns, it’s unlike any other program on television except maybe for Flapjack.
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack is a bizarre show about the titular character Flapjack as he searches for adventure and the fabled Candied Island with his mentor the good-for-nothing Captain K’nuckles and their ship the motherly whale Bubby. The show uses varied styles and bizarre gross-out animation along with a dark and sepia-toned world to contrast the overly excited Flapjack. The titular character wants to be the world’s greatest adventurer and find the fictional Candied Island. In fact, all the hardened pirates and adventurers that hang out at Stormalong harbor, the main setting of the show, are after candy.
Both shows are highly enjoyable and very odd. They feature a sort of humor that appeals to both the young and the older viewers and will unfortunately probably never find the same degree of success as the oddball Spongebob Squarepants. Nickelodeon doesn’t really seem to crank out the same quality as they used to, especially with the new trend of trying to be Disney with all their stupid kids soap opera’s and singing shows. So I’m happy to see Cartoon Network is still capable of producing a few good shows.
To Play or Not to Play: Soul Calibur 4
The version of SC4 I picked up was the PS3 version, so I know nothing of Yoda. I wanted Vader and free online play, so I went with my obvious choice. First and foremost if you are familiar with Soul Calibur, the game improves on the third game in the game play department, adding online play and more fluid controls. If you are new to the franchise you’ll find the plot ridiculous and the announcer laughable, truthfully this is what makes it Soul Calibur.
Vader/Yoda, Amy, the Apprentice, Algol, and Hilde are the new additions to the game. I say Amy, because she has her own move set for the most part now. Aside from all the additions there are almost unlimited options for character creation, though the fact equipment weights stats can sway your creativity in favor of stat growth. Vader is unique and straight forward in technique, Hilde is defensive, the Apprentice plays a lot like Spawn from SC2 and Algol is like Abyss, a broken boss character.
The game is missing some things that if implemented could have made it shine as the best in the series, but even with character creation and online play I still have to give that title to SC2. The gameplay is great, if you have friends give it a rent, it is an awesome rent, if you like it enough you may want to own it, I am a diehard fighting fan so I had to own it. It’s a truly fluid fighter and an excellent multiplayer game, with some downloadable content additions it could get even better, but I hope Namco sees where the game can be improved.
Play it, Rent it, maybe Buy it
Overall: 4/5
Obscurities- Top Ten Protagonists of the Drawn Media
My Top Ten Protagonists in The Drawn Media –Anime/Comics/Manga/Cartoons
Spoilers abound in the following entry. Flat-out I’ll say you won’t find Superman on this list. I prefer heroes with depth and the ultimate boy-scout with barely any weaknesses doesn’t really measure up as interesting to me as he could be. While I acknowledge the man of steel as a great hero, he’s just as cool as the following guys.
10. Wolverine – This anti-hero from the X-men is a hardcore badass who thinks Cyclops is a prick and fights with the ferocity of the animal he takes his name after. Of all the old-school X-men he is my favorite and thus earns himself a number 10 spot.
Runner Up from series: Gambit
9. Urahara Kisuke – The true hero of Bleach, to anyone who reads the manga, they know all about Aizen. Essentially the epic battles of Bleach boil down to Urahara vs. Aizen in a game of strategic Shinigami chess. Urahara is old-school and as such tutors the young heroes, manipulating them to win against Aizen, often without them realizing it.
Runner Up for series: Zaraki Kenpachi
8. Vash the Stampede – A living Plant, he will never age and is discriminated against by people as a walking disaster waiting to happen. However, with his immense power all he has ever caused is property damage. He saves everyone he can and is the nicest person on the planet Gunsmoke, having to deal with all the hardships thrown his way as a martyr to the ideologies taught to him by Rem.
7. Dead Pool – Dead Pool is something special in that he’s entirely insane. While an assassin at heart he has become a bizarre protagonist who is cool and goofy on so many levels. He brings a real bizarre sense of absurdist humor different from Spiderman.
6. L – The genius detective with a lot of bizarre eccentric tendencies from Death Note. He competed in intellectual cat and mouse with Light and in some iterations of the story (the Films) was the winner. I just didn’t like Mello or Near as his successors. L’s uniqueness, boldness and genius make him a truly interesting character.
5. Musashi (Takezo) – The Protagonist of Vagabond is based on the really life Miyamoto Musashi, this invincible swordsman evolves throughout the series from a mad dog of a fighter to the most skilled swordsman the world has ever seen. His inner reflections throughout the series and his desire to become the greatest swordsman in Japan make him an interesting fighter.
4. Spiderman – The wise-cracking flagship of Marvel Comics, everyone has either seen the movies or read the comics. Spidey is an excellent hero, with a sense of humor and a weighted past. Dealing with the modern burdens of life, women, and work while battling Venom, Doc Ock and the rest of his Rogue’s gallery make Spidey a deep and relatable character.
3. The Goddamn Batman – The popularity of the Bat has been revived in full force with Nolan’s 2 movies. Both of which are often viewed as the quintessential comic films. In the printed media however, when you look past the campy era, you get a dark and brooding detective trying to juggle his lifestyles of playboy billionaire and vigilante. He’s the smart bad-boy of DC comics and he gave Superman his fair share of ass-whippings.
2. Rorschach – Almost taking my number one spot is the controversial Rorschach from Alan Moore’s Watchmen. In fact one day he may be number 1 after I see the film. This hero sees everything in black and white, an ultra-conservative person and in real-life I would probably disagree with him on so many levels. However, his life view is what makes him so interesting, if your crime is bad, he’ll likely kill you. A loose-cannon vigilante and one of the most interesting characters you’ll ever see. You may not agree with him, but you’ll likely find him as a badass and unpredictably interesting to see.
Runner Up for series: Nite-Owl II
1. Guts – The highest rated protagonist on my list is also the biggest anti-hero on my list. Star of Berserk, Guts was raised as a mercenary, all he knew in life was combat. When he met his first loss he found something he never had before a leader and a friend in Griffith. However, learning that pursuing his own ambitions would allow him to stand as Griffith’s equal he won his freedom back years later. One thing led to another and our hero is branded as a sacrifice to demons by his former friend, watching him rape his only love in front of him and all his former allies and friends be devoured by demons. Driving Guts to breaking point and inspiring the most violent rage induced revenge I have ever seen in any media. Guts tale is truly a twisted one and because of that has twisted his own psyche into something dark, battling with his inner demons to protect the one he loves and exact revenge on the man (technically he’s a demi-god now) that ruined everything he had.
Runner Up for series: Casca
