John

[quote name='Inuyasha7271']I also cannot stand Nu-Metal, Metalcore, Hardcore, Post-Hardcore I find it like ***** rock whiny and full of angst I don't need that in my music give me some kind of message that doesn't sound like its coming from a adolescent prepubescent kid.[/quote] [quote=Evanescence lyrics][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=5][SIZE=2] Immobilized by my fear And soon to be Blinded by tears I can stop the pain If I will it all away[/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT][/quote] [quote=Evanescence lyrics][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=5][SIZE=2] These wounds won't seem to heal This pain is just too real There's just too much that time cannot erase[/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT][/quote] [quote=Evanescence lyrics][FONT=Verdana][SIZE=5][SIZE=2] Swallowed up in the sound of my screaming Cannot cease for the fear of silent nights Oh how I long for the deep sleep dreaming The goddess of imaginary light[/SIZE][/SIZE][/FONT][/quote] These are literally the first three songs I clicked on. Watch your mouth before calling other bands whiny and angsty.

[quote name='Whoa, Mann'][SIZE=1][COLOR=HotPink]I hate poppy music like Post-hardcore. All the girls. And some of the guys, that dress funny like post-hardcore. All of them. Absolutely all of them. Blessthefall suck, okay? Sure... Chiodos is an amazing band, but you have to understand the quality of it... Not just because Craig can sing good. Flyleaf is a horrible band! And most of all. Hawthorne Heights. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/quote] Try some [URL="http://www.last.fm/music/Fugazi/Red+Medicine"][COLOR=Gray]real[/COLOR][/URL] [URL="http://www.last.fm/music/Fugazi/The+Argument"][COLOR=Gray]post[/COLOR][/URL]-[URL="http://www.last.fm/music/Fugazi/Steady+Diet+of+Nothing"][COLOR=Gray]hardcore[/COLOR][/URL] on for size.

[quote name='Shy'][SIZE=1]Will you marry me?[/SIZE][/quote] Yes. [quote name='Shy][SIZE=1']However, I'll probably force my Bulldog to dress up at least one night this month. I'm thinking either a ballerina or Tinkerbell.[/SIZE][/quote] Nevermind.

[quote name='Revolver'][COLOR=Olive]Some bands stay alive by just passing by.[/COLOR][/quote] More of them don't.

I might see if I can get an El Kabong costume together and hit up a few costume contests. It should be pretty simple to do--Zorro-style hat, bandana, and cape, my guitar, and a white horse suit. I only anticipate having trouble finding the suit, since your stereotypical horse suit is brown. But hey, you never know! I've also got a friend who's having a costume contest at his job, Wal-Mart, where the winner gets a $50 gift card, and he says he'll split it with me if I help him get a good costume together. Any ideas? :P

I just listened to a little bit of Meshuggah, and I can't really find anything to seriously dislike about them, even the screaming (which is usually the immediate turnoff for me). I might really like them if I were an angrier person, lol. But as it stands, I think they're fine.

[quote name='celestialcharm'][COLOR=DarkOrchid][FONT=Book Antiqua]I'm not sure if it's just because of my mid terms, but isn't downloading [I]legal[/I]? Isn't it uploading that's illegal? Or maybe that's just in Canada?[/FONT][/COLOR][/quote] I don't see any reason for that to be true. If it were true that one was illegal while the other wasn't (and that sounds kinda crazy in the first place), it would be more logical for downloading to be the illegal one. Then again, everyone knows Canadians aren't quite all there in the head--it must have something to do with the low air pressure. :)

The main issue really holding back the credibility of digital music rights for me is that the vast majority of suits and legislation filed for the cause is done by the RIAA on behalf of their labels--the artists get almost no say in the matter (if any), and if I recall correctly, they don't get much of the money from the suits either. The reason the commotion over music pirating is so huge isn't because of artists complaining about being deprived of their own revenue, it's because the record labels and their representatives are worried about losing the income that they leech off of musicians' creative works. Not to say that the musicians are fine with it, that's obviously not the case. It's just that they're generally not causing nearly the uproar about it that their labels are, lol. As a matter of fact, there's a surprising number of small artists either giving their music out for free, or having it released on a label and telling their fans to pirate it (no joke, heh). Interestingly enough, I've seen this happen a lot more with lesser-known artists than greater. Speaking of whom, I'm really not losing any sleep over downloading albums from well-established, wealthy artists. Bands like Metallica (not that I'd really want to download them anyway) are in the worst position to complain about their music being stolen. Sure, it's your right, but if you've got that much money, you should try having a heart. Another reason I download is because my dad doesn't want me buying any music that's not Christian, and I could name maybe a half-dozen Christian bands that I could stand listening to (and all of them almost certainly have more enjoyable secular alternatives). I can still pick up CDs on my own around town, but I live in a rural area with no dedicated music stores that would carry much of the stuff I like. So until I'm out in college next year, and have my own debit card with which to order albums online, I'm stuck pirating. And honestly, I look forward to having more music on CDs for the same reason as everyone else; it's good to just have the disk there as a backup if anything happens, and album artwork and liner notes are always fun.

[SIZE=3]INTERMISSION![/SIZE] All the metal in the world that I listen to: [LIST] [*]The Sword's only album [*]A little bit of Iron Savior (which, so far, I'm a little disappointed in, however much I like "Time Will Tell") [*]Not as much Kamelot as I'd like (the more I listen to the smattering of songs that I have from them, the more I appreciate what they do to power metal) [*]A solitary Melvins album, which in itself isn't metal through-and-through anyway. [*]Soundgarden, if you feel like calling them alternative metal. [*]Dethklok[/LIST]

So how 'bout the New Pork City map they debuted today? Looks like it might become SSBB's signature overused (but still cool), plus-size map, a title which has been held by the Zelda and Starfox series for the last two games.

The final fight from the original Drunken Master and any Tony Jaa fight aside, it's definitely [URL="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/339401/the_ultimate_fight/"][COLOR=Gray]this[/COLOR][/URL] most ultimate of fight scenes (warning: most ultimate of gore).

As far as online games are concerned, I've been playing [URL="http://www.tremulous.net"][COLOR=Gray]Tremulous[/COLOR][/URL] for something like a year and a half now, and just about a week ago I started playing [URL="http://www.s2games.com/savage/"][COLOR=Gray]Savage[/COLOR][/URL]; I think I'll stick with that one, too, assuming the learning curve doesn't kill me. Both are free, if anyone is interested. The forum I post the most at is the Tremulous one, which is kinda painful to say because the community there is almost horrid. I can't figure out why I stick around, but I'm assuming it's either to keep up with the latest game news or keep my self-esteem at a maximum. Then there's OB, which I lurk around at least once a day, but usually don't find anything worth posting about. And finally, Group Sounds, which I still visit about once a day even though it's broken lol.

[quote name='2007DigitalBoy'][COLOR=DarkOrange]I want to be an Admin. This is not a joke, I want to be one. I would settle for being a moderator as well, but I'd really like to be an Admin. I'm not sure why I have no rank yet on OB. I know the rules well enough, I'm here all the damn time and could police the entire forum with more efficiency than the rest of the mods combined (that's half joke, don't get too offended) not to mention I'm probably the most important member here or something >_>[/COLOR][/quote] If that happened, I have a hunch this would become the most popular thread in a very long time. (That, for the record, was also half joke.) (Half.)

Oh, and not enough double-posting.

Definitely the fact that OB has no president. That one's really running us into the ground.

[quote name='The Blue Jihad']EDIT: My platform? My party? My politics? You don't need to know any of that. Just know that I'll promise [B][I][COLOR=Red]red hot dickings[/COLOR][/I][/B] for everyone.[/quote] Well, you've got my vote.

You know what? Every day, usually multiple times a day, I'll go to OB, open a few forums that I feel I might get some entertainment out of, usually fail to, and hardly ever contribute anything of my own to the forum, so... what the heck. I'll try something like this for once. Hi. I'm John Cook. I don't have any opinions until my lobbyists' checks have gone through, but I'll be more than happy to keep you updated on this.

[quote name='James'][COLOR=#606060]My understanding is that when people talk about "Separation of Church and State", they are referring to the Establishment Clause. From what I understand, the Establishment Clause prohibits Government from establishing an official state religion. This does not mean that Government and religion are mutually exclusive; it just means that Government can not "officially favor" one religion over another, in terms of legislation and so on. I am not American but this is my understanding of the issue; I'm sure someone more knowledgable about the American constitution could go into much more detail than that.[/COLOR][/quote] Well, that's pretty much the long and the short of it, I believe. People seem to think that government and religion need to be kept in airlocked containers a thousand miles away from each other, but it's just not true; the two can intermingle as much as they want, as long as it doesn't result in the government favoring one religion above or below another. But of course, the problem with this doesn't usually occur with people trying to separate religion and government at all costs, but with overzealous Christians demanding that our religion be the favored one.

[quote name='Odin M Yggdrasi']Also, in my experience religion and politics are taboo topics because they invariably degrade into fights. Maybe this forum is different though,[/quote] lol'd! :D [B]1 - Do you think it is appropriate for political candidates to talk about their religious beliefs as part of their political campaigns, or do you think this is not appropriate? [/B][quote name='Retribution][FONT=Arial']They certainly have the right to talk about their religious beliefs, and it makes sense since most of the time the candidate's religion is a massive part of their life. They base the majority of their beliefs off this system, so it's only logical that they mention it.[/FONT][/quote] [B]2 - Do you think it is appropriate for religious leaders to urge people to vote for or against a political candidate, or is that not appropriate?[/B] Urging =/= demanding. It's ok for anyone, regardless of religion, to tell other people who they think they should be voting for. [FONT=trebuchet ms][B]3 - Thinking about your vote for president next year, how important is it that a candidate SHARES your religious beliefs? [/B]Pretty important, but I just don't think there are any candidates in the running that I know of, or have been for years and years, who can really say they share my beliefs. [/FONT][B]4 - How important is it for a candidate to have STRONG religious beliefs, regardless of whether those beliefs are the same as yours? [/B]It's important to me that they've got strong Christian beliefs, but not because they're just strong religious beliefs in general. So, no.

[quote name='silpheedpilot'][SIZE=1][COLOR=SlateGray]Splicers? My god! Nothing has ever ran at me and tried to hit me with a pipe before![/COLOR][/SIZE][/quote] I could really see that changing after that previous post of yours. :)

I second the earlier nomination for Josh Homme, but for his work in Kyuss, not QOTSA. And then, come on guys, Robert Fripp (of King Crimson). I can't believe he hasn't come up yet.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Despite Deus Ex being very high among my favorite games, I wouldn't be recommending it to someone on a quest for the best RPG of all time. It's much easier to enjoy Deus Ex if you're a shooter fan than an RPG fan.

As for your original question of if it's [I]wrong[/I] to be desensitized to violence, I don't necessarily think so. I've naturally always been somewhat hardened against emotional responses myself, so I might be biased on this, but I don't think people have the right to judge you on which emotions you feel or don't feel.

[quote name='Semjaza']The very fact that this has to be discussed at all kind of negates any attempt to undo the uptight image OB may or may not have. The place is starting to get uptight about being too uptight.[/quote] I didn't really read the post as being about that at all. To me it just looked like a random joke on something that everyone's pretty much forgotten about.